tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-44307593784049821272024-03-19T01:18:53.002-07:00From The Wild SideWild Thoughts from an Untamed HeartDavid Stallinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15153415881144120600noreply@blogger.comBlogger122125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4430759378404982127.post-22737548708579364282022-03-14T19:53:00.006-07:002022-03-15T05:28:02.583-07:00Stop The Slaughter of Predators: Reform Wildlife Management<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjzv7TmNge7-4w5HGjavJw3qCj5Qv-OlM0K6-pqcH3us95scq07N3RD9B82mTIvnwpi6wGFqUE_vi0jjXabR1vF3KYXHibBwKZ4d2gkLpqgXZ6KWuaXt2BAd7EGRnxN8Pq3SF-P4HejOH6o0fG6DOmYN6jgIjLtuGZsU9FXpUVtQnNE-yQhnyn0YXtG=s964" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="682" data-original-width="964" height="226" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjzv7TmNge7-4w5HGjavJw3qCj5Qv-OlM0K6-pqcH3us95scq07N3RD9B82mTIvnwpi6wGFqUE_vi0jjXabR1vF3KYXHibBwKZ4d2gkLpqgXZ6KWuaXt2BAd7EGRnxN8Pq3SF-P4HejOH6o0fG6DOmYN6jgIjLtuGZsU9FXpUVtQnNE-yQhnyn0YXtG=s320" width="320" /></a></div><span style="font-family: inherit;">On a cloudy, chilly day last week I went ice fishing for
nonnative rainbow and brook trout on an artificial, human-made lake created by
the construction of a dam in 1885, impounding the once-natural flow of the
North Fork of Flint Creek to provide power for the nearby town of Phillipsburg
in southwest Montana. Georgetown Lake is considered a "Blue Ribbon"
fisheries, where recreational anglers like me can pursue nonnative trophy-sized
fish. Anglers can keep five nonnative trout a day, of which only one can be a
nonnative brook trout (indigenous to the East Coast of the United States, but
not Montana), and it must more than 16" in length. Most of the lake is
closed to fishing during the months of April, May and June to protect nonnative
fish while they’re spawning. These regulations are put in place and enforced by
the Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife & Parks, overseen by a
governor-appointed commission made up of mostly hunters and ranchers, funded
mostly by hunting and fishing license fees to protect and enhance opportunities
for people, like me, to catch nonnative trophy-sized fish. </span><p></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;">From where I was fishing, I could look south into the
rugged, snow-capped peaks of the Anaconda Pintler Wilderness, administered by
the U.S. Forest Service, where I have spent much of my life hiking, backpacking,
snowshoeing and hunting for wild, native elk. I thought about a special night
back in September, in a remote part of that wonderful wilderness, when I slept
out under bright stars and a brilliant full moon listening to the beautiful
wild howls of native wolves. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;">As I was ice fishing on that human-created lake catching
nonnative trophy rainbow trout (and releasing a small nonnative brook trout so
it could maybe grow into a nonnative trophy fish) a war on native wolves was underway
throughout Montana. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;">New wolf-killing regulations in Montana allow individuals to
kill up to 20 native wolves (10 by trapping, 10 by shooting). Snaring, baiting
and shooting of native wolves are all legal. Night hunting for native wolves is
allowed on private lands. A recent court-ruling declared aerial shooting of
native wolves is permitted. These regulations are put in place and
enforced by the Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife & Parks, overseen by a
governor-appointed commission made up of mostly hunters and ranchers, funded
mostly by hunting and fishing license fees, based on false claims of protecting
wild elk and livestock. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;">So while the state of Montana is working to enhance some nonnative
species, it is simultaneously carrying out a war against other native species.
This sums up the flaws to our current system of wildlife management, and why it
must change. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Thus far, about 250 wolves have been killed in
Montana this year, more than 20 right outside the boundaries of Yellowstone
National Park – a boundary wolves aren’t aware of when they cross from the Park
(where they’re protected) into Montana (where they’re slaughtered). Yellowstone
has thus far lost nearly a quarter of its wolves, including one entire pack.
Many of those wolves wore tracking collars as part of ongoing research to better
understand wolves. The governor of Montana himself, Greg Gianforte – the same
man who was arrested for assault after body-slamming a reporter because the
reporter asked him questions – was found in violation of state regulations when
he recently trapped and killed a wolf near Yellowstone. He also killed a radio-collared
mountain lion after it was treed by dogs. The lion was also part of an ongoing
research effort to better understand predators.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Here’s a few things we understand for certain about predators
such as wolves, grizzlies, mountain lions and coyotes: They didn’t evolve with
much predation; they are mostly self-regulating in maintaining population sizes;
they have intricate social structures, breeding behavior and territorial
tendencies. When certain individual predators are killed from a population, it
can disrupt and alter social structures, breeding behaviors and territorial
tendencies, and result in more breeding and more predators, many who don’t
learn skills and survival tips from older animals now dead – skills and
survival tips such as how to hunt elk and deer, how to avoid humans, how to avoid
livestock. The killing of these predators often exacerbates the challenges
managers claim to be solving. Where predators are heavily hunted, livestock
depredation and conflicts with humans often increases. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 398.25pt;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">But science doesn’t seem to
matter. A lot of people in Montana don’t want to understand native predators. They
don’t even try to understand how to coexist with native
predators. They just want to kill them. They even organize and hold killing
contests with prizes for those who can slaughter the most wolves and coyotes. These
are the people who influence and control the management of wolves and coyotes,
management based on lies, myths, misconceptions, politics and fear. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="tab-stops: 398.25pt;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Grizzly bears are next. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Grizzlies are currently emerging from their winter dens,
awaking to an increasingly hostile world of challenges, threats and dangers
from humans who, for the most part, misunderstand and fear grizzlies. Idaho
serves as an example. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;">About 35-40 grizzly bears live in the Selkirk Mountains of
Idaho. Another 30-40 occupy the Cabinet-Yaak Ecosystem along the Idaho and
Montana border, a small, isolated population threatened by proposed road construction
and logging. In other words: There’s maybe, at most, 80 grizzlies, but
more likely about 50 grizzlies, in the entire state of Idaho. Yet Idaho
Governor Brad Little just submitted a petition to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife
Service to remove grizzly bears in the “Lower 48” of the United States from the
Endangered Species list, and recognize states’ “successful efforts to recover
and manage” grizzly populations.“Bureaucratic gridlock is keeping healthy
grizzly populations on the threatened species list unnecessarily,” Little
says. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Yes, the predator-hating Governor of the same
predator-hating state that sends bounty hunters into wilderness areas to
eradicate entire wolf packs (on federal public lands!); that guns down wolves
from helicopters; that pays people a bounty to kill wolves; that allows people
to trap, poison and shoot as many wolves as they want whenever they want, is
now telling us they can be trusted to manage and protect grizzly bears?<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The governors of Montana and Wyoming are also pushing for
delisting of grizzlies (to remove grizzlies from federal protection and turn
management over to the states) while simultaneously carrying out a war against
wolves. All three states have plans to hunt, to kill!, grizzlies for fun,
amusement and entertainment, despite the fact that the hunting of apex
predators, that didn’t evolve with much predation, has numerous, negative
consequences to those populations, not to mention the individuals hunted and
killed. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Grizzlies occupy less than two-percent of their historic
range. They mostly exist in several, relatively small, isolated populations
with no genetic connectivity. They face numerous challenges from
climate-related changes to their habitat and related declines in traditional
food sources, causing them to expand their range in search of alternative
foods, putting them more in contact and conflict with a rapidly increasing
human population. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;">State wildlife management in Idaho, Montana and Wyoming, as
in many states, is funded mostly through the sale of hunting and fishing
licenses, and excise taxes in hunting and fishing equipment. Management is
guided by commissions appointed by governors, and consist mostly of people from
the hunting and agricultural community. As a result, management is mostly
directed at appeasing hunters and agricultural interests, favoring hunted
species such as elk and deer, to the detriment of other species, particularly
predators, such as wolves, grizzlies and mountain lions. The so-called
“management” of these predators by states is based on fear, lies, myths and
misconceptions, certainly not science. Many hunting organizations, the hunting
media and the hunting equipment industry perpetuate the lies, myths and
misconceptions and influence and control state wildlife management. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;">We hunters like to tout the North American Model of Wildlife
Management as a great success story in restoring and protecting wildlife. The
revered seven “tenants” of that system include: Wildlife resources are
conserved and held in trust for all citizens; Commerce in dead wildlife
is eliminated; Wildlife is allocated according to democratic rule of
law; Wildlife may only be killed for a legitimate, non-frivolous purpose; and, Scientific
management is the proper means for wildlife conservation. And yet there is
commerce for the hides, fur, antlers and horns of native wildlife; hunters have
far more influence and duscontrol over state wildlife management than other
citizens; wildlife is often killed for nonlegitimate, frivolous purposes,
including amusement, entertainment and profit; and, science is not driving the
management of predators – in fact, science is being dismissed and ignored,
resulting in wildlife management that is out of alignment with modern
ecological understanding, public attitudes, public trust principles and norms
of democratic governance. It needs reform. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;">This system MUST change. Grizzlies MUST remain under federal
protection, and wolves in Idaho, Montana and Wyoming MUST be placed back under
federal protection. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><b>What You Can You:</b> <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;">* Support the efforts of <a href="https://wildlifeforall.us/" target="_blank">Wildlifefor All</a>, an emerging effort to address the systemic problems of state
wildlife management in a coordinated and strategic way on a national scale --
an initiative that is urgently needed, long overdue, and critically important
for the future of wildlife.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;">* Support <a href="https://savetheyellowstonegrizzly.org/" target="_blank">Savethe Yellowstone Grizzlies</a> and become a <a href="https://savetheyellowstonegrizzly.org/newsite/donate/" target="_blank">GrizzlyPeacekeeper.</a> <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;">* Sign the<a href="https://www.change.org/p/tell-president-biden-and-secretary-of-the-interior-deb-haaland-protect-the-grizzly-stop-killing-harassing-explorer-bears" target="_blank"> petition
to permanently protect grizzlies,</a> and stop the killing and harassment of
"explorer" bears. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;">* Visit the <a href="https://www.grizzlytimes.org/david-mattson" target="_blank">GrizzlyTimes</a> and<a href="https://www.allgrizzly.org/" target="_blank"> All
Grizzly</a>, by renowned carnivore scientist Dr. David Mattson and wildlife
advocate Louis Wilcox, to learn all you can about grizzly bears and the
nonscientific, political, fear-based mis-management of grizzlies and other
wildlife. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: inherit;">* Support national and local organizations such as: <a href="https://www.wolvesoftherockies.org/" target="_blank">Wolvesof the Rockies</a>, <a href="https://wildearthguardians.org/" target="_blank">WildEarth
Guardians,</a> <a href="https://www.biologicaldiversity.org/" target="_blank">CenterFor Wildlife Diversity</a>, <a href="https://act.sierraclub.org/donate/rc_connect__campaign_designform?id=70131000001YfSjAAK&formcampaignid=70131000001LWbDAAW&ddi=N16JSEBI02&utm_medium=cpc&utm_source=bing&utm_campaign=sem_join&utm_content=Q42016&msclkid=b7c09830c4b0180b35fefa004404017e" target="_blank">SierraClub</a>, <a href="https://earthjustice.org/" target="_blank">EarthJustice</a>,
<a href="https://www.westernwatersheds.org/" target="_blank">WesternWatersheds Project</a>, the <a href="https://www.montanaforestplan.org/" target="_blank">Flathead-Lolo-BitterrootCitizen Task Force </a>and <a href="https://www.friendsofthebitterroot.net/" target="_blank">Friends of the Bitterroot</a>, all working to -- among other things -- protect the
Endangered Species Act, protect wolves and grizzlies and stop the war on native
predators. </span><o:p></o:p></p>David Stallinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15153415881144120600noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4430759378404982127.post-41572215631785337032022-02-27T12:50:00.001-08:002022-02-27T12:50:30.297-08:00From A Taller Tower: A Book Review<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgKtzm96Cmev3P580mXD4C0LLn4z5sbiz0qSBB0ce3h8SUf0jPSiaKy9l8nO7D3PYAXTXo8M6LX3Cq6tX2FkisGx9A4OCXqKwRNQhmui-NTnZs3iaUzFPridFnlZqMgFPbky8W-jtxGLxD3JznPk0cljpoPYOL0sTVlnV8vsPtU_YrEYb7LdeYNj2tV=s279" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="279" data-original-width="181" height="279" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgKtzm96Cmev3P580mXD4C0LLn4z5sbiz0qSBB0ce3h8SUf0jPSiaKy9l8nO7D3PYAXTXo8M6LX3Cq6tX2FkisGx9A4OCXqKwRNQhmui-NTnZs3iaUzFPridFnlZqMgFPbky8W-jtxGLxD3JznPk0cljpoPYOL0sTVlnV8vsPtU_YrEYb7LdeYNj2tV" width="181" /></a></div>“There is no silence on earth deeper than the silence between gunshots. It’s terrifying. It’s deafening. It drowns out everything else,” writes <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Seamus_McGraw">Seamus McGraw</a> in his recently published book,<a href="https://utpress.utexas.edu/books/mcgraw-from-a-taller-tower"> “From a Taller Tower: The Rise of the American Mass Shooter.”</a><p></p><p>“. . . There is no silence on earth deeper than the silence between gunshots. It’s only human nature that we try to fill it, stuffing it with all our suppositions and conjectures, half truths and misconceptions.”</p><p>McGraw has done a tremendous amount of research — reading FBI and police reports, interviewing experts, survivors and first responders, and even corresponding with a few of the murders — taking us from the first modern mass shooting at the University of Texas in 1966 to the mass killings at the Mandalay Bay Harvest Music Festival in Las Vegas in 2017. </p><p>“These are not tragedies,” he writes. “These are atrocities. These are things we do to each other.</p><p>Through his wonderful, concise prose and extensive research, he takes us along on an inquisitive and informative journey, thoroughly examining the questions, myths, misconceptions, fallacies and truths relating to the causes and continued occurrences of these atrocities. </p><p>He looks into the role of easy access to deadly weapons designed for war; mental health and illness; a culture of victimization, narcissism and more. </p><p>“We search for easy answers. Tumors, video games, mental illness. Evil. But there are no easy answers.,” he writes.</p><p>“Myths are as durable as diamonds. And they’re found in abundance in our culture – the dark, silent places where our grudges spore, the places where narcissism and victimhood ooze together and become more toxic,” McGraw writes. “A culture that seems often to celebrate self-centered rage and antisocial grandiosity, a culture in which were both hyperconnected and isolated from each other, is a culture that creates an environment that validates and inflames these killers and gives them places to hide.”</p><p>Another excerpt: </p><p>“We are who we are, and we are who we have always been: a people capable of doing great things, embracing and advancing the best human instinct. But we are also an angry, divided, fearful, and violent people, among the most violent nations on earth. . . We are a nation armed to the teeth . . . There are among us decent, honorable, God-fearing people who believe in perfect faith that they have a divine ordinance to stockpile ordinance, including weapons originally designed to kill on the battlefield, and all the hundred round drum magazines they desire.”</p><p>This is a powerful, important, thought-provoking book. I highly recommend it. </p><p>“There is no silence on earth deeper than the silence between gunshots. It’s terrifying. It’s deafening. But it never lasts for long.”</p>David Stallinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15153415881144120600noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4430759378404982127.post-35454818709732491482022-01-12T10:07:00.005-08:002022-01-12T19:50:02.138-08:00Gunfight: A Book Review<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgDOuBYwlBY7BkD1EQoIE4vTVvAg5SQqSz1CVACWVLf4XuLM8gIEWWVRR6b_FKQmuPMB9ggr60bQoXcfNj6H71h1fK8HkxN6WAkxfZ-DZwppl9wfQ2GU7ukbNkzJ43rZF1i2lxTF4TChDUMILuvEvQQZ4PiUgVXtHvhFVjgU7fO6qIWxCVOYPUAfKJu=s4032" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4032" data-original-width="3024" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgDOuBYwlBY7BkD1EQoIE4vTVvAg5SQqSz1CVACWVLf4XuLM8gIEWWVRR6b_FKQmuPMB9ggr60bQoXcfNj6H71h1fK8HkxN6WAkxfZ-DZwppl9wfQ2GU7ukbNkzJ43rZF1i2lxTF4TChDUMILuvEvQQZ4PiUgVXtHvhFVjgU7fO6qIWxCVOYPUAfKJu=s320" width="240" /></a></div>A guy with a giant ego exaggerates, distorts and fabricates a story to make himself seem heroically courageous. Some folks not only believe him, but embrace and promote the story because it nicely fits their narrative and agenda. No, I’m not referring to Donald Trump; I’m referring to a former gun-industry executive named Ryan Busse and his recently-released, self-aggrandizing book, “Gunfight: My Battle Against The Industry That Radicalized America.” <p></p><p>In sum: A guy who had a lucrative career in the gun industry quits his job and writes an expose of the industry, telling us what anyone paying attention knew 30 years ago. (Republican President George H.W. Bush expressed disgust with and left the NRA in 1995.) </p><p>Like most humans with hearts, minds and souls, Busse writes that the Sandy Hook atrocity shook him up and changed his views. </p><p>On December 14, 2012, a 20-year-old man shot and killed his mother then drove to Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown Connecticut, shot his way through a glass window, entered the school and shot and killed eight boys, 12 girls (all between the ages of six and seven) and six women who worked at the school. He shot his victims multiple times (he shot one boy 11 times) then shot and killed himself. He did all this in just 10 minutes, firing hundreds of rounds from his mother’s Bushmaster XM15-E2S, a 5.56mm semi-automatic rifle that fires about 45 rounds a minute. It’s basically a civilian model of the M16-A2 I was issued in the Marine Corps without the fully-automatic capability.</p><p>Busse was so disgusted and disturbed by Sandy Hook and the gun industry’s response that he spent another whole decade working for a firearms company, spouting more lies and propaganda. Why? As stated in a book review for the New York Times: 'He was earning $210,000 a year.”</p><p>Most whistleblowers don’t wait until they’re financially secure and comfortable before blowing the whistle, but Busse’s different. He wants us to think he’s a courageous hero for now finally telling us what we knew long ago. And if you doubt he’s a courageous hero, he’ll remind you that he is on pretty near every other page. </p><p>I was struggling along through the book when I reached a part that includes me. I’m not mentioned by name, but I’m the “guy from TU.”</p><p>Some background: About 20 years ago I was the first person hired as part of a new Public Lands Initiative launched by Trout Unlimited (TU), a national nonprofit dedicated to protecting and restoring native trout and their watersheds. The initiative was the brainchild of my friend Chris Wood, who is now the executive director of TU. </p><p>President George W. Bush had just moved into the White House and was planning to expedite gas and oil development within some pretty special wild places in Montana, Wyoming, Colorado and New Mexico. The goal of the initiative was to organize and rally conservative folks to help stop it. </p><p>My first task on the job was to produce a detailed report of how Bush’s energy policies would negatively impact these wild places. I then recruited seven hunters, anglers, ranchers and outfitters and took them to Washington, D.C., to hold a press conference at the National Press Club and meet with congressional representatives. One of those people was Ryan Busse, who was then a Vice President at Kimber Firearms in Montana. In Gunfight, Busse tells how “the guy from TU” (me) asked him to come along to D.C. Here’s how he describes it: </p><p>“Look, let’s be honest,” the TU guy said. “You’re from a very conservative industry. Are you willing to criticize President Bush?” The forwardness caught me off guard. “It’s an election year. The press hook is that you look like a typical Bush voter and yet you are not happy with his policies.”</p><p>“I get all that. What’s your point?” </p><p>Our point is that you are going to get hammered on this. People are going to come after you.”</p><p>“I have a lot of street cred in this industry. They can’t come after me.”</p><p>“I don’t think they care who they kill.”</p><p>“Listen, all I’m doing is speaking out for wild places where gun owners hunt. For God’s sake, I cried when I found this place, and I hunt and shoot as much as anyone. How the hell can they criticize that?”</p><p>“OK, you’ve got balls of steel. We’ll send you a plane ticket.” </p><p>The entire conversation is fabricated. And I guarantee I have never uttered the phrase, “You’ve got balls of steel.” </p><p>I certainly don’t consider it courageous to speak out for protection of the wild places we love. I had hundreds of volunteers eager to do just that. But Busse doesn’t mention any of the others, he continues to portray himself as a lone courageous hero — one who continued working for the lucrative gun industry for another 20 years, long after the rest of us recognized what he now courageously and heroically tells us about. </p><p>(During my days working with guys, like Busse, who claimed to be “Republican” but didn’t like the GOP’s anti-environmental policies, I often wondered: Did this mean they supported the GOP’s other policies, such as their anti-gay, anti-science, anti-woman, warmongering trickle-down economic policies?)</p><p>This guy’s dishonesty, ego and self-promotion might match that of Donald Trump’s. </p><p>I couldn’t read anymore. I tossed the book.</p>David Stallinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15153415881144120600noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4430759378404982127.post-28228572160487412312021-08-29T18:08:00.003-07:002021-08-29T20:32:06.701-07:00Ignore, Block, Obfuscate and Attack: The Bizarre Campaign of Jacob Elder<p><span face="Calibri, sans-serif"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBDOQvzzrCeJxaHFbRPbdeb7-gsNo3UgDRyCr7HHfM2o7tc5u9h2Ovf2DCV8pzjZlhEV4dKN6weVRBFkF3J4lTpPaMyPbvN1rFcZty1wg3VOJkoHafFibDXVb88v52pqHG_MWHiUfQ-sM/s679/NOElder.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="677" data-original-width="679" height="319" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgBDOQvzzrCeJxaHFbRPbdeb7-gsNo3UgDRyCr7HHfM2o7tc5u9h2Ovf2DCV8pzjZlhEV4dKN6weVRBFkF3J4lTpPaMyPbvN1rFcZty1wg3VOJkoHafFibDXVb88v52pqHG_MWHiUfQ-sM/s320/NOElder.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="line-height: 107%;">I first met
Jacob Elder at meetings of the Missoula County Democrats Central Committee. He
seemed a nice, sincere, honest guy, and a fellow Marine Corps Sergeant. The
feelings were apparently mutual. He recently wrote to me, “You are a good man
that I came to respect – not only as a Marine but because you welcomed me in
when I was hanging around the central committee.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="line-height: 107%;">He wrote a
wonderful OpEd for the Missoulian, published June 2, 2020, called “Being Black
in America Shouldn’t be a Death Sentence,” about systemic, institutionalized
racism, and “the blatant execution of black people by the police,” as he put
it.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="line-height: 107%;">That was
before he decided to run for mayor of Missoula, to replace incumbent Mayor John
Engen, who has been in office for 15 years. That was before things got weird.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="line-height: 107%;">At first I
was intrigued, and willing to support him if his views and proposed policies
aligned with mine. So I asked him questions. <br />
<br />
On his Facebook Page he indicated support for SB215, a “religious freedom” bill
passed by state legislators, identical to bills passed in other states,
designed to allow for discrimination against the gay community. I asked
if he supported such discriminatory laws. He didn’t answer. In other places, he
obfuscated on the topic – something, I later learned, he does on most topics.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="line-height: 107%;">I asked him
what he did in the Marine Corps -- his Military Occupational Specialty (MOS), a
common question among fellow Marines. (I served in a Force Recon unit and
earned three: 0311, Infantryman; 0321, Reconnaissance Marine, and 8654,
Reconnaissance Marine Parachute and SCUBA Qualified.) He wouldn’t answer.
He told me he wouldn’t provide such information to people with “ulterior
motives.” (My only motive was to learn more about him to determine if I would
vote for him.)<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="line-height: 107%;">On his
Facebook Page, he posted that he would put all homeless people who aren’t
Missoula residents, on a bus and send them to California. I asked him the
following: “How would you know if they are residents? (Many don’t have
identification). Would you force them to go if they don’t want to? Is this
legal? Would there be legal challenges to the city? How much would it cost?”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="line-height: 107%;">He deleted
my questions and blocked me from his page. He sent me a personal note on
Messenger telling me he was “disappointed in me as a fellow Marine.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="line-height: 107%;">I have since
learned he has ignored and blocked hundreds of people – Democrats, Republicans,
independents – simply for asking him questions or trying to get clarification
of his views and positions. As local political consultant Kristi
Govertsen recently put it (as quoted in the Missoula Current): “It’s super fun
to see mayoral candidate Jacob Elder using the extremely absurd campaign
strategy of blocking hundreds of potential voters and future constituents from
his social media platforms. These aren’t obnoxious internet trolls he’s
blocking. These are engaged citizens, community leaders, bridge-builders, and
longtime Missoulians that are genuinely curious about him, his platform, and
how they might work together should he get elected.” <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="line-height: 107%;">Elder claims
he ignored and blocked us all because we “work for Engen.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="line-height: 107%;">He portrays
Engen as some kind of big-city, Tony Soprano-like mob boss out to get him.
“Vying for a political office against a 16-year incumbent mayor has
proven to be one of the most dangerous endeavors I have undertaken,” Elder has
written. He wrote to me that his family “has received numerous threats from
Engen’s supporters,” threats he calls “extremely racist,” and that he now “has
to carry” a firearm to protect himself. “How does a city mayor create supporters
that are this threatening and borderline racist?,” he asked me. “That should be
the title for an Op-Ed or letter to the editor on my behalf.” <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="line-height: 107%;">Elder also
seems to have changed his views to appeal more to the right. He’s refused
interviews with some local media, but met privately with “Patriots of Montana,”
an extreme right-wing group that perpetuates long-debunked conspiracy theories.
Elder even seems to have changed his views on systemic, institutionalized
racism, recently assuring folks that “no racism exists in the Missoula police
department” and ridiculing the Black Lives Matters movement as dangerous and
harmful.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="line-height: 107%;">I recently
learned that Elder seems to have created a fake Facebook account under the name Richard
Peterson, with a bizarre profile photo making fun of Mayor John Engen’s weight
and alleged, past struggles with drinking (see attached). Elder uses this fake
profile to troll those who don’t support him. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="line-height: 107%;">Last week I
posted a statement on a Facebook Page about why I could not support Jacob Elder
as mayor. Within minutes he sent me a personal message on Messenger (see
attached) telling me I was not really a Marine (“You are not a Marine! You
never served!”) accompanied by a barrage of creepy emojis. After I received it,
I called him to see if we could have a rational, reasonable discussion. We
couldn’t. He wouldn’t let me get in a word and told me that I was “not really a
man,” that I am “a disgrace to our nation and Marine Corps,” and that he does
not believe I was a Marine.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="line-height: 107%;">More
recently, because I called him “creepy,” he accused me of being racist. “This
fellow is racist! Yes, RACIST! He DO NOT belong in our community!” he posted on
Instagram and Facebook. I’ve since learned he accuses many who disagree with him as
being racist. Ironically, his actions confirm what I stated: Jacob Elder is
creepy.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="line-height: 107%;">I can fully
understand why some people think Mayor Engen has been in office too long
and would like to see someone new. But Jacob Elder is clearly not the right
choice. <span style="font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjceeW-d-ncEVOafxvV5RGUGJnCNGfEEWg7T-7EXxEButXAbm2aE2UGbSSFB0KFWNT8B_mSOrpSSR_b1mG-Tp44lOvZWIzn03tAtNiPBOWkLCibabWVvIgiA_hVfWIm5UGPa9Vy12o4Egs/s1068/ElderNotMarine.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1068" data-original-width="750" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjceeW-d-ncEVOafxvV5RGUGJnCNGfEEWg7T-7EXxEButXAbm2aE2UGbSSFB0KFWNT8B_mSOrpSSR_b1mG-Tp44lOvZWIzn03tAtNiPBOWkLCibabWVvIgiA_hVfWIm5UGPa9Vy12o4Egs/s320/ElderNotMarine.jpg" width="225" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglCGlFO3rAu-GZZm54NBLibZWrta4Fb9YSR5fFpJ0xft4ynsujqtRSocCzZvv12CoM96cYUjEM9pNC8RNSN-NY0ePcxGxw3bGqaCvHuSLpqj4kJPVroSFTS5xLtzlnRglpufFsuv954yE/s1334/ElderFakeProfile.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1334" data-original-width="750" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEglCGlFO3rAu-GZZm54NBLibZWrta4Fb9YSR5fFpJ0xft4ynsujqtRSocCzZvv12CoM96cYUjEM9pNC8RNSN-NY0ePcxGxw3bGqaCvHuSLpqj4kJPVroSFTS5xLtzlnRglpufFsuv954yE/s320/ElderFakeProfile.jpg" width="180" /></a></div><br /><p class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Calibri, sans-serif; line-height: 107%; margin: 0in 0in 8pt;"><br /></p>David Stallinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15153415881144120600noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4430759378404982127.post-4246472402386299212021-01-20T13:20:00.001-08:002021-01-20T13:24:25.611-08:00Trump’s Letter to Joe Biden<p><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiexlFS5HzT3xOHo35nZ2JiEG0Obqx_wqYhqU0eRnhZqPE98JSPp34pViGdzfl75kLoyAY96tIrm_CS_Kae7TRhu8PZj_TK42v51hfJvUSM7fUVe5nvbyvOk0Pvspzrg9888DMRlHrSfts/s2048/49649C4A-6356-4193-A7F1-7D39EBC94ACF.jpeg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1526" data-original-width="2048" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiexlFS5HzT3xOHo35nZ2JiEG0Obqx_wqYhqU0eRnhZqPE98JSPp34pViGdzfl75kLoyAY96tIrm_CS_Kae7TRhu8PZj_TK42v51hfJvUSM7fUVe5nvbyvOk0Pvspzrg9888DMRlHrSfts/s320/49649C4A-6356-4193-A7F1-7D39EBC94ACF.jpeg" width="320" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">It’s a modern Inauguration Day </span><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">tradition for outgoing presidents to write a letter to their successors and leave it on the Resolute Desk in the Oval Office.</span><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;"> </span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">Barack Obama wrote to Donald Trump, in part, “Regardless of the push and pull of daily politics, it's up to us to leave those instruments of our democracy at least as strong as we found them."</span></p><p><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">George H.W. Bush wrote </span><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">to Bill Clinton, “I wish you well. I wish your family well. Your success now is our country's success. I am rooting hard for you."</span></p><p><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;">Attached is what Donald Trump left for Joe Biden. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px;"><br /></span></p>David Stallinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15153415881144120600noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4430759378404982127.post-35353517280955720802020-12-20T12:15:00.006-08:002020-12-20T12:44:07.330-08:00The Return<p><span style="font-family: inherit;"></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4UBG31JlSIvdFni4qO6HKvsloXXl_3PZlsR-_9WKEy7qkOE9GHRYgCD_LUKDTUY_b44b20Ebmw8hUBo1Cx_bSVmjTXOBL0jt-XIbomYahy9SOVmuQEUHmcll1134ntg_Og9UIdsd0H8U/s489/hibernating_bear_by_lordaramus.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="333" data-original-width="489" height="218" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4UBG31JlSIvdFni4qO6HKvsloXXl_3PZlsR-_9WKEy7qkOE9GHRYgCD_LUKDTUY_b44b20Ebmw8hUBo1Cx_bSVmjTXOBL0jt-XIbomYahy9SOVmuQEUHmcll1134ntg_Og9UIdsd0H8U/w320-h218/hibernating_bear_by_lordaramus.jpg" title="Hibernating Bear by Alex Von Tolmacsy" width="320" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: inherit;">He wasn’t sure if it was his snarling hungry stomach that awoke him or the crackling of spruce turned to ember, releasing one last gasp of expanded gas while travelling from tree to ash. His head remained clear enough to recognize irrepressible shivers, and carefully and precisely note to the various stages of hyperthermia. <i>Or is it hypothermia?</i> It troubled him knowing he should know, while simultaneously intriguing him that his mind was still capable of knowing there’s a difference; knowing he ought to know what he doesn’t. Then, as if to prove to himself his level of awareness, his brain delivered a few words of caution: </span><i style="font-family: inherit;">Do not remove your clothes! </i><span style="font-family: inherit;">It then obnoxiously repeated it, over and over, like an earworm, or is it a brain worm? Or a cognitive itch?</span><div><p></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">Then he imagined himself prancing naked in the snow, making clotheless snow angels, then jumping in the frigid ice hole his father had cut into the lake with a chainsaw when he was a child, then rapidly climbing out, running and submerging himself in the hot springs, skin tingling, friends laughing, sun shining, snowflakes stinging against his bare naked face. He laughed out loud and thought he heard himself. Then he thought he heard others, maybe, or perhaps just the wind howling through bare limbs of larches around him. Or it might have been wolves singing in the distance, wailing like he imagined the sounds of native women mourning the deaths of their children, or at least how it’s portrayed in the movies, and then he thought of Robert Redford and Jeremiah Johnson and Hatchet Jack’s final note, <i>“I, Hatchet Jack, being of sound mind and broke legs, do leaveth my rifle to the next thing who finds it, Lord hope he be a white man. It is a good rifle, and kilt the bear that kilt me. Anyway, I am dead.”</i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>Ha! He</i> remembered! And he laughed again. Longer. Louder.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>Sound mind,</i> he thought. <i>Do not remove your clothes!</i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">Doused by increasing heavy snowfall, the fire gave off one last tiny flicker of orange and red then turned black as the forest around it. He wondered, if you can’t see the forest, is it still there? He laughed again.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">He knew he had to do something. Anything. But he had no energy, no desire, no inclination to gather wood, though he knew he should, but he also thought how difficult and tiresome it might be to yet again build a fire, a thought that brought to mind Jack London, and again he laughed hard and loud as he envisioned a bucket’s worth or two of snow falling upon him from spruce boughs above and burying him in a thick blanket of warmth.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">And there was his father, cutting though the thick, hard ice with a chainsaw to reach the warm water below.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">He turned slowly around towards the lichen-covered ledge behind him that, until now, had served as a fine backrest, for which he would forever remain grateful, and said so to the rock, before forgetting to. He couldn’t see it but could feel it, solid as a brick house. Indestructible. Immortal. Invincible. Or is it invisible? </span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">He remembers confusing those very words whenever reciting the Pledge of Alliance as a school kid. Why should he know the difference now? At least he knew that he ought to know, he thought.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>Sound mind,</i> he thought. <i>Do not remove your clothes!</i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>Dig! </i></span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">So he dug.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">He knew he needed claws, sharp claws, claws as sharp as his mind. And he needed strength, physical strength, the physical strength of a grizzly. He was aware he possessed a sufficient and effective quantity of both. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">So he dug.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">He dug deep through layers of soft snow and frozen crust. He dug deeper through a layer of dead and decaying duff. He dug deeper and deeper through roots and dirt and rock towards the fiery center of mother earth, deep down past the early stages of warmth until it grew increasingly, almost uncomfortably hot. </span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">Then he stopped.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">Although he greatly appreciated and applauded the mind’s well-meaning counsel and advice, and such warnings made perfect sense at the time, considering previous and precarious circumstances, he knew that his once dire situation had now significantly changed, thanks to claws, strength and soundness of mind. All had suddenly taken a turn for the better. Everything was going to be just fine. It was hot. So he removed his clothes, then crawled quickly down into his cozy hole. It was beyond perfection, like “being in God’s pocket” as his mom liked to say. Then he heard her say it, again, and tell him how tremendously proud she was of his unwavering determination, fortitude and presence of mind in the face of adversity. It felt richly satisfying to have pleased his mother enough to receive such high and unusual praise. He couldn’t remember when he had last felt so content. He curled into a fetal position, and thought he could recall the warmth and comfort of his mother’s womb.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: inherit;">He drifted warmly into a deep, deep sleep and dreamt of bright golden glacier lilies in a lush, green meadow where all seemed to be slowly sliding down, slipping towards the precipice, down towards the edge of a warm and welcoming silence.</span></p></div>David Stallinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15153415881144120600noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4430759378404982127.post-15117052235116394262020-10-23T13:39:00.001-07:002020-10-23T13:44:21.268-07:00"The Emperor Is Wearing Nothing At All!" <p><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; text-align: justify;"></span></span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlQ_DkxFpxaWLJrGToCE7fupb8GO18VSLyIHa6Cd28BGjlUylNd5OhSuHA9_x_qTcL-iVSsargSahhpQPncp3O1VWGc-OBXgFMsiNNkT9h_6IwFsyJrqNYB6oeqfzJz2qbBVH4FDMVH44/s1100/James-Mattis-incredible-excoriation-of-Trump-annotated.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="619" data-original-width="1100" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlQ_DkxFpxaWLJrGToCE7fupb8GO18VSLyIHa6Cd28BGjlUylNd5OhSuHA9_x_qTcL-iVSsargSahhpQPncp3O1VWGc-OBXgFMsiNNkT9h_6IwFsyJrqNYB6oeqfzJz2qbBVH4FDMVH44/s320/James-Mattis-incredible-excoriation-of-Trump-annotated.jpg" width="320" /></a></span></div><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">“THE EMPEROR IS WEARING NOTHING AT ALL!” — It doesn’t take a
child to see it. It’s <span style="text-align: justify;">not just liberals opposed to Trump. It’s not just Democrats
concerned. Numerous prominent Republicans see and are speaking out about the
obvious: Trump is an incompetent, dangerously divisive, lying narcissist who
behaves like a child. The oppositio</span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt; text-align: justify;">n is unprecedented. Everyone can see it
except the thoroughly brainwashed and blind.</span></span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Retired Marine Corps General and former Secretary of Defense
James Mattis has denounced Trump, calling him “a threat to our Constitution,”
and recently wrote: “Donald Trump is the first president in my lifetime who
does not try to unite the American people—does not even pretend to try.
Instead, he tries to divide us.”<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Retired Marine Corps General and former White House Chief of
Staff John Kelly agreed with General Mattis, and has called Trump the “most
flawed person” he’s ever met in his life, adding: "The depths of his
dishonesty is just astounding to me. The dishonesty, the transactional nature
of every relationship, though it's more pathetic than anything else . . I think
we really need to step back. I think we need to look harder at who we elect.
What is their character like? What are their ethics? Are they willing, if
they're elected, to represent all of their constituents, not just the base, but
all of their constituents?”<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">A group of 489 generals, admirals, senior noncommissioned
officers, ambassadors, and senior civilian national security leaders recently
signed on to a letter endorsing Joe Biden. The letter reads, in part:<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">“The current president has demonstrated he is not equal to
the enormous responsibilities of his office; he cannot rise to meet challenges
large or small. Thanks to his disdainful attitude and his failures, our allies
no longer trust or respect us, and our enemies no longer fear us.”<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Former Chairman of the National Republican Committee Michael
Steele has assailed Trump, saying that Trump does not represent Republican
values, and says he’s voting for Joe Biden, who he calls “a good man.” <o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">“This ballot is like none ever cast,” Steele says. “I’m a
lifelong Republican and I’m still a Republican, but this ballot is how we
restore the soul of our nation.”<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">To those still supporting Trump he says: “So, all y’all want
to play this little game that Donald Trump is like you, you’re stupid. You’re
being played. You’re getting punked. But what’s so bad about it is you’re
complicit in your own punking.”<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Republican Senator Ben Sasse recently criticized Trump for
“the way he kisses dictators' butts. I mean, the way he ignores that the
Uyghurs are in literal concentration camps in Xinjiang right now. He hasn't
lifted a finger on behalf of the Hong Kongers. The United States now regularly
sells out our allies under his leadership. The way he treats women and spends
like a drunken sailor. The ways I criticized President Obama for that kind of
spending, I've criticized President Trump for as well. He mocks evangelicals
behind closed doors. His family has treated the presidency like a business
opportunity. He's flirted with white supremacists."<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Sasse also slammed Trump's response coronavirus — which has
sickened more than 7.9 million Americans and killed more than 217,000 — saying
that Trump’s leadership has not been "reasonable or responsible."<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">"The reality is that he careened from curb to curb,”
Sasse says. “First, he ignored COVID. And then he went into full economic
shutdown mode. He was the one who said 10 to 14 days of shutdown would fix
this, and that was always wrong. So, I don't think the way he's led through
COVID has been reasonable or responsible or right."<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Other prominent republicans who oppose Trump: Former
Secretary of State Colin Powell; former Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel;
former Secretary of Defense William Cohen; former Special Assistant to the
President Peggy Noonan; former Secretary of Homeland Security Tom Ridge; former
EPA Director Christine Todd Whitman . . . <o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">The list goes on, and on. <o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">More than 70 former senior Republican national security
officials and 60 additional senior officials have signed on to a statement
declaring, "We are profoundly concerned about our nation's security and
standing in the world under the leadership of Donald Trump. The President has
demonstrated that he is dangerously unfit to serve another term."<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">A group of former senior U.S. government officials and
conservatives—including from the Reagan, Bush 41, Bush 43, and Trump
administrations have formed The Republican Political Alliance for Integrity and
Reform (REPAIR) to, "focus on a return to principles-based governing in
the post-Trump era."<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">A third group of Republicans, Republican Voters Against Trump
was launched in May 2020 and has collected more than 500 testimonials from
Republicans opposing Donald Trump.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">They’re all pointing out what is painfully obvious. It’s time
to get rid of Donald Trump and start healing our nation.<o:p></o:p></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;"><o:p><span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span></o:p></p>David Stallinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15153415881144120600noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4430759378404982127.post-41363865911818508432020-02-02T15:31:00.000-08:002020-02-03T15:57:54.515-08:00A Slow Stroll Through Camp Town<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9j_gngkckvSjIhQuAguR-RF3LI3P2zQTSitdR3gjm26liblwC4fwASImm5mCuBGhyphenhyphenRRWZrcvWzVc_AdOcsqa_DoT6BOCtf-jW56Z0lTTSTwGta4TUn6X9JEBQu9ZNbW5cZ71kqtCyQTE/s1600/unnamed.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh9j_gngkckvSjIhQuAguR-RF3LI3P2zQTSitdR3gjm26liblwC4fwASImm5mCuBGhyphenhyphenRRWZrcvWzVc_AdOcsqa_DoT6BOCtf-jW56Z0lTTSTwGta4TUn6X9JEBQu9ZNbW5cZ71kqtCyQTE/s320/unnamed.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
The walk across and under the
Reserve Street bridge isn’t written up in any Missoula hiking guides, Chamber
of Commerce pamphlets, Office of Tourism Brochures or in the flood of “Come
Visit-and-Fly-Fish-Montana” magazine articles. If it were, there’d likely be a
warning about the putrid stench of the Dailey’s rendering plant, where bacon is
processed (“Premium Meats Since 1893”) and how, if the breeze is drifting towards
you, as it was towards me that day (gusts of wind
up to 100 miles-per-hour, and 60-degrees, in February, in western Montana!), it
won’t take long before you feel nauseous. Or maybe it’s the sights under the
bridge that made me nauseous. . . and queasy, and uneasy, and guilty, and a bit
ashamed, and fortunate.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
I walked on the sidewalk south
across the bridge, away from the giant American Flag behind me, flying above
the old Perkins restaurant (soon to be yet another brew pub), serving as a
welcoming gateway of sorts to the homogenistic stretch of anywhere-in-America
mega super stores -- Walmart, Home Depot, Lowe’s, CostCo, Best Buy, Target,
Barnes and Noble -- built on the former ranchlands where I used to hunt.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
Beyond the railing to my left, about
50 yards below, was the Clark Fork River, flowing rapidly underneath me and west
from the direction of downtown. The tallest of the buildings -- the historic
Wilma theatre, the First Interstate Bank, the recently-opened Residence Inn by
Marriot where the Mercantile used to be -- are all visible in the distance from the
bridge, as are the tall, snow-capped mountains above the University and
framing Hellgate Canyon beyond. I was both surprised and concerned to see no
ice. None. In February!</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
Just a dozen feet away, across
the rusty railing to my right, between sidewalk and traffic, were hundreds of
people sitting in a seemingly endless line of cars and trucks and SUVs, bumper
to bumper, for as far as I could see, with nothing better to do as they crawled
along, so it seemed, than watch me walk across a bridge. I felt a bit
self-conscious, wondering – dressed as I was in dirty tan cargo pants, torn
grey flannel shirt, old green wind parka and worn baseball-style cap adorned
with the Marine Corps Eagle, Globe and Anchor -- if any or all of these people
behind their steering wheels and in passenger seats wondered if I was one of <i>them</i>,
a citizen of the camps below, and then I wondered if and why it would even matter
what they wondered?</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
On the northeast side of the
bridge, in a dead dull golden field of invasive knapweed, close to Dailey’s
meats, is a large billboard with a photo of an inviting, modest-looking home
for sale by Christies International Real Estate, “On Foothills Drive in
Florence, $699,900.” Across the street,
on the southwest corner of Reserve and Mullan, a man wearing a black hoodie and
red MAGA hat waved a bright red, white and blue banner: “TRUMP 2020, No More
Bullshit.”</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
When I reached the south side of
the bridge, I hopped over the metal railing to my left and, while carefully and
clumsily walking and sliding down a steep, muddy hillside littered with garbage
and shopping carts, down towards the little town of camps, I met two Missoula
police officers who were on their way up. One of them, who introduced herself
as Detective Brueckner, told me they had recovered a body from one of the tents
earlier in the day. “He likely died in his sleep,” she said. “Apparently, he
died a while ago.”</div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
The bottom of the hill leveled
out onto a flat, rocky floodplain, near a small grove of cottonwoods, about
100-yards or so from river’s edge, with mostly calf-high grasses and weeds in
between, and round, fist-to-bowling-ball size rocks, exposed and polished by
hundreds of years of spring flood currents, with an occasional dead or dying cottonwood
here and there, some already fallen to the ground, where plastic shopping bags
and other garbage and woody debris from previous flooding accumulated on the
windward and upriver sides. Separated by maybe 50-300 yards, on either side of
the bridge, were a series of small camps, close to a dozen, constructed of
cheap tents, tarps, pallets and cardboard boxes. A small town of sorts, mostly
out of sight and out of mind, with a fluctuating population of 10-20 people. On
this day, on this particular walk, I only saw a handful of residents, but more
may have been sleeping or resting in their shelters, or off doing their best to
gather food, water or money. I saw a lot of blackened fire rings, built from
river rock, and wondered if it was mostly a nocturnal town. I made a mental
note to visit sometime after dark. Maybe. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
I felt intrusive walking from
camp to camp, skirting close to the edges, like an American tourist visiting a
poverty-stricken third-world county, feeling fortunate for my own circumstances
while pondering the plight of those who call this place home; Mental illness?
Addiction? Bad choices? All of that and other things? It’s complicated, I know,
but I couldn’t help but think about the mostly-celebrated groundbreaking currently
underway a few miles upriver, near the heart of downtown, for yet another new
$100 million hotel and events center being built by a millionaire who has been
granted millions by the City Council in Tax Increment Funding because, well,
it’s good for the economy.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
Scattered everywhere were shopping
carts and shopping bags from Target and Walmart and Albertsons; empty Pepsi and
Coke cans; Nacho and Cheeto bags and an old, empty box of It’s It ice cream
cakes. I saw a large, stuffed-animal black bear in a fire ring with its head
ripped off, and a used syringe laying on the dirt nearby. Somebody nailed a “Beware of Dog” sign on one
of the cottonwoods, but I neither saw nor heard any canines to beware of. In
one of the camps, I found two wet, moldy paperbacks sitting on a log: “How to
Practice: The Way to a Meaningful Life,” by the Dali Lama, and “The Leader’s
Handbook: A Guide to Inspiring Your People and Managing the Daily Workflow,” by
Peter R. Scholtes. I stepped in a hole and took a fall, spooking some magpies from
their nearby perch of dead cottonwood branches and noticed fresh deer tracks in
the mud in front of me.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
Years ago, before the camps
started popping up in 2000, I sometimes came here in the spring to photograph
bald eagles, during that time of year when the river rapidly rises, filling up
with freshly melted snow from the Mountains of western Montana and rushing it west
towards the Columbia and Pacific. I
remember once wading through frigid, knee-deep water where some of these camps
now sit, seemingly high and dry and safe during most of the year. Last May the
river rose right into the tents and carboard shelters, washing most everything,
and even a few people, into the river. Local news reported that the folks
living here “lost everything,” which might not seem like much, but was indeed everything
to them. People expressed understandable
concern about the garbage washed away and floating towards Idaho. Every now and
then I’ll read about bodies recovered from the river. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
On the night of July 31, 2014, a
fight broke out between three of the men living in these camps. One of the men,
38, was viciously beaten and shot to death, then dumped in the river. His body
was found a week later, and several weeks after that they caught the killer,
who was 28, down in Louisiana. He’s serving a 40-year sentence.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
Word quickly spread that this
place is dangerous. Or can be. I didn’t sense any danger while walking around
there, not in the middle of a warm, windy February day. I imagine the incident
serves as a metaphor of sorts to the danger residents of this camp may pose
towards themselves – a danger of self-destruction, the danger of being caught
in a devastating cultural, economic and social whirlpool, swirling and swirling
ever downward, into the depths of mental illness and addiction and unpaid bills
and stigmas and judgements and bad choices and circumstance and -- who knows
what else?-- struggling to keep afloat, or perhaps giving up, or maybe enjoying
the ride in an “I don’t give a shit” sort of way, all fed and fueled and
powered by numerous complex factors I can’t and won’t pretend to fully
understand. Many or most or maybe all of these factors, no doubt, are out of
their control, though I was recently called a “dumb liberal piece of shit” for
thinking so. I will say this: I’ve ventured to the precipice of that vortex. If
not for a remarkable, loving ex-wife and a wonderful, caring physician at the
Veteran’s Administration I’m not sure how far down I’d have fallen. I know I
wouldn’t be walking around these camps as an outsider with the luxury of contemplating
such things. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
A guy named Joseph approached me
from one of the camps, a good-looking young man, perhaps 30, wearing a yellow North
Face hoodie, blue jeans and gray tennis shoes. He asked me what I was up to,
requested I not take photos of any people living there, and told me that his
friend, a seemingly shy quieter man standing nearby, said I looked just like
his pastor. “Same build, same walk, same look,” he said.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
“He must be a handsome pastor,” I
replied.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
They both laughed.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
I assured him I respected others
enough to not take photos of them without permission, and was just checking
things out, and would likely write about my visit. He didn’t seem to mind. In
fact, he gave me his phone number and asked me to give him a call if I wanted
to chat more. He was a life-long Montanan, he said, who “fell on hard times.”
He recently moved to these camps from another along the Yellowstone River near
Bozeman (“now THAT crazy river floods!” he said), and he hoped to help organize
this camp a bit better, clean it up, make it more acceptable and livable.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
“I’m a religious man,” he said.
“I believe in the Ten Commandments. Do unto others. Thou shall not steal. Thou
shall not kill. All of that. Unfortunately, not everyone lives by that, but we all
need to.” </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
I looked above, atop the massive
concrete structure nearby, where lines of congested traffic slowly moved north, and south, to and from the big box stores, the economic heartbeat of America,
beating faster and faster and faster.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<br />David Stallinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15153415881144120600noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4430759378404982127.post-68056791933094682132019-07-16T14:30:00.000-07:002019-07-16T14:30:20.483-07:00This Montana Marine Veteran is Sick and Tired of ‘Anti-American’ Rhetoric
<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2-pRvl0y4Z7z4IdGZ9-glM2mJFXN8lyhxKka1wds1K7LN5CtFjM-19caHKT0Jws1I8HO0dPybiBVskx7fjWwl1BtmPI3q12BAKVr8_-EuDghMqVb-J5WV18AP6PLffglROLBVeAMSFlw/s1600/dainestrump+%25282%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="264" data-original-width="432" height="195" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2-pRvl0y4Z7z4IdGZ9-glM2mJFXN8lyhxKka1wds1K7LN5CtFjM-19caHKT0Jws1I8HO0dPybiBVskx7fjWwl1BtmPI3q12BAKVr8_-EuDghMqVb-J5WV18AP6PLffglROLBVeAMSFlw/s320/dainestrump+%25282%2529.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<span style="color: black; font-family: inherit;">I’ve met Montana Senator Steve Daines a few times. I’m a
constituent. Although I don’t agree with him on a lot of issues, he always
seemed nice, professional and respectful. He was good to my son Cory, who has
Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"></span><span style="color: black;"></span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: inherit;">Once, when Daines was still a Congressman, my son and I
visited his office in Washington D.C. to persuade him to support the renewal of
the Muscular Dystrophy Care Act. (He did, and even called Cory days later to
personal tell him about it.) He took Cory out onto the House floor, let him
cast a few votes, and introduced him to then-Representative (now Senator) Tammy
Duckworth, a Democrat from Illinois, who, like my son, is also in a wheelchair.
She lost both of her legs in Iraq while serving as a U.S. Army helicopter
pilot. Born in Thailand, she was the first Thai-American woman and the first
disabled woman to be elected to Congress. She’s liberal. She was born
elsewhere. She’s American. She loves our country. She’s a patriot. She’s a
wonderful part of American history. Daines seemed to respect her despite their
political differences.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"></span><span style="color: black;"></span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: inherit;">At one point, my son asked Daines about an issue Daines and
I have disagreed on. Daines looked at me, looked at my son, smiled, and said,
“Cory, there are things your father and I don’t see eye-to-eye on, and that’s
okay. But we’re not here to talk about that. We’re here to talk about you and
muscular dystrophy.”</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"></span><span style="color: black;"></span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: inherit;">It was a good answer. Daines earned my admiration and
respect that day. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"></span><span style="color: black;"></span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: inherit;">Monday, he lost my admiration and respect when he defended and joined Donald
Trump’s insulting, race-based, xenophobic and divisive attacks on members of Congress,
and his dangerous McCarthy-like judgements of who is and who isn’t “American.” The
day before, Trump accused four progressive congresswomen of color of “hating
America,” and suggested they “go back” to the “crime infested” countries they
“originally came from” – even though all four are citizens of the United
States, three were born in the United States, and all were elected by fellow U.S.
citizens to serve in the U.S. House of Representatives.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"></span><span style="color: black;"></span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: inherit;">In response, Daines tweeted: “Montanans are sick and tired
of listening to anti-American, anti-Semite, radical Democrats trash our country
and our ideals. This is America. We’re the greatest country in the world. I
stand with @realdonaldtrump.”</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"></span><span style="color: black;"></span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: inherit;">I love the United States. I love the ideals of freedom, liberty and equality
for all. Even if we haven’t always lived up to those ideals, our founders left
us a Constitution that not only outlines those ideals but established legal and
civil ways to fight for and achieve those ideals. To challenge things. To
criticize things. To try and change things. Central to that is the freedom to
speak against the things we don’t like.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"></span><span style="color: black;"></span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: inherit;">That’s why I enlisted in the U.S. Marine Corps, volunteered
to serve in a Force Recon unit, and took an oath to defend our nation and Constitution.
That’s why after leaving active duty I served in the Marine Corps Reserves and
then the Montana Army National Guard. I served with a diversity of people, from
all walks of life, from a variety of backgrounds, from throughout the nation.
Different colors; different religious views; different political views – a snapshot
of Americans serving America. We often had debates and disagreements,
occasionally heated ones, but we would have all sacrificed our lives for each
other and our country. In fact, some of my friends did just that.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"></span><span style="color: black;"></span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: inherit;">Last May, I attended a reunion of my fellow Force Recon
Marines at topsail Beach, North Carolina, near Marine Corps base Camp LeJeune.
I hadn’t seen most of them for more than 30 years. We remain different; maybe
more so as we’ve aged. I don’t agree with the political views of most of them.
But I love them like brothers. We’re all Americans. We all love our country.
We’ve <i>proven</i> that. We take
seriously the Voltairean notion (as expressed by Evelyn Beatrice Hall), “I
disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say
it.” </span><br />
<i><span style="font-family: inherit;"></span><span style="color: black;"></span><br /></i>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="color: black;"><i>E pluribus unum</i>.
United we stand. </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"></span><span style="color: black;"></span><br />
<span style="color: black; font-family: inherit;">I find it increasingly and disturbingly disconcerting that
so many Americans, and leaders such as Trump and Daines, don’t seem to
understand the important distinction between patriotism and nationalism.
They’ve hijacked and distorted the word ‘patriotism.’ They don’t seem to fully
understand the First Amendment of the Constitution. They apparently believe
that anyone who doesn’t share their thoughts, values and believes, and conform
to their standards and notions of ‘patriotism,’ must hate America.</span><br />
<span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"></span><span style="color: black;"></span><br /></span>
<span style="line-height: 107%;"><span style="color: black; font-family: inherit;">Ironically, their attitude is as anti-American
as it gets. </span></span><i></i><u></u><sub></sub><sup></sup><strike></strike><b></b>David Stallinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15153415881144120600noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4430759378404982127.post-70233537641960657642019-03-23T20:30:00.001-07:002019-03-23T20:30:58.539-07:00The Awakening (A Letter to Bears) <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjA1A0GMw7v2I5__qxTU-qbpdC0bwS7Zv7BT7IYwMBSRV95Dkop09jAYGpSvYMC7mvrnyxN0wLC5AG6rJs_vqzuAma5vxY5dhueJyqfD62UX3lYnFGZ6J7GQXZwB_tqSqX1g5bg2AUfYxA/s1600/95B0E833-FE2A-49F1-ABB5-519FCF421DA6.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="720" data-original-width="404" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjA1A0GMw7v2I5__qxTU-qbpdC0bwS7Zv7BT7IYwMBSRV95Dkop09jAYGpSvYMC7mvrnyxN0wLC5AG6rJs_vqzuAma5vxY5dhueJyqfD62UX3lYnFGZ6J7GQXZwB_tqSqX1g5bg2AUfYxA/s320/95B0E833-FE2A-49F1-ABB5-519FCF421DA6.jpeg" width="179" /></a></div>
March 23, 2019<br />
<br />
Dear Bears,<br />
<br />
Good morning. I hope you had a deep, satisfying, rejuvenating nap. I missed you.<br />
<br />
I’m certainly not in a very credible position to give advice about staying out of trouble, but for what it’s worth: Please, PLEASE!, stay away from people; we are bad news for bears.<br />
<br />
If you do by chance cross paths with homo sapiens — which is, unfortunately, becoming increasingly difficult to avoid — I hope they give you all the space, understanding and respect you deserve. Either way, turn and flee for your safe space (what little we’ve left for you).<br />
<br />
May you have a long, healthy, safe, wonderful and wild year — and may the huckleberries be plump and bountiful. You’re lucky to be a bear!<br />
<br />
Sincerely,<br />
<br />
Your friend and admirer,<br />
<br />
DaveDavid Stallinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15153415881144120600noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4430759378404982127.post-70406043413479363952019-03-17T06:57:00.000-07:002019-03-17T07:07:06.866-07:00Sacred Grizzlies? (Griz Bless America!)<div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">One of several considerations recently before a federal judge: Native American tribes from seven states and Canada claim that lifting protections for grizzly bears, and allowing the hunting of grizzlies, violates their religious freedom because they consider the grizzly sacred.</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 13.8px;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;">This may not seem the strongest case in context of the modern world. But consider this: Many of the same people ridiculing it believe in talking snakes, immaculate conception and a resurrected guy who walked on water. Some of them believe it’s a violation of their religious freedoms to bake a cake for certain individuals because of cherry-picked words from a contradictory, archaic book written thousands of years ago and translated numerous times into dozens of conflicting versions. </span></div>
<div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal; min-height: 13.8px;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;">Personally, I believe if there’s a god at all it’s tied to the energy that runs through all things; the sun and the rain and the air and the sedges and the elk and the trout and the huckleberries that run through me and back to Earth. (As Edward Abbey put it, i’m an “Earthiest,” I believe in what I can touch, smell, hear, taste and walk on.) And I believe one of the quickest routes to god is through the digestive system of a grizzly bear. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">I’m going with the original Americans on this one. Thank Griz for the First Amendment!</span></div>
David Stallinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15153415881144120600noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4430759378404982127.post-24660069409439194612018-11-04T22:55:00.000-08:002018-11-04T22:57:36.756-08:00Vote Wild! <div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8A1YgMOMjdeCxOqpwbqxH3pqUTTQpeZmKN3AuvMtTagYNnrr8oHYu1oL1iAHLiKElVrpgf9gZnXGgip17EtCjH2LWz4IVvxLU3AWn-WsqNx-48_KHoyVk0QWfZSi9nZ_T9rBUsiP_-RI/s1600/EFD4A9B6-C470-4609-B998-FB66657E86DB.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1067" data-original-width="1600" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8A1YgMOMjdeCxOqpwbqxH3pqUTTQpeZmKN3AuvMtTagYNnrr8oHYu1oL1iAHLiKElVrpgf9gZnXGgip17EtCjH2LWz4IVvxLU3AWn-WsqNx-48_KHoyVk0QWfZSi9nZ_T9rBUsiP_-RI/s320/EFD4A9B6-C470-4609-B998-FB66657E86DB.jpeg" width="320" /></a></div>
<span style="font-size: 12pt;">It was socked-in so thick on the west side of Glacier National Park today that I rarely and barely saw small, ghostly shadows of some mountains and almost forgot they were there, until I felt them, and then I remembered this: </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">In the late 1980s, while working at the Sula Ranger District for the U.S. Forest Service, we had a German-exchange student named Stefen who went backpacking with me into a remote part of the Selway Bitterroot Wilderness. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">Lots of cold rain; all fogged in.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">Stefen said something in German. I asked what it meant. He tells me it’s something he and his friends say when the mountains in Germany disappear. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">“But what does it mean?” </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;"></span><br /></div>
<div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;">“It means, ‘There go our mountains; some rich American stole them.’”</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">Seems a sadly appropriate thought today, considering that the lying, narcissistic self-described billionaire from New York City was just here again, for the fourth time — and his millionaire son and pence keep coming here, too — to push their agenda of eroding protections for, and maybe even selling, these irreplaceable, precious wild public lands that belong to us all and sustain lots of other special species, many of whom we’ve harmed and diminished enough. Like wild wolves. Like wild grizzlies. We owe it to them to leave them something. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">It’s their homes, and we get to respectfully visit. </span></div>
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<div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;">So fuck Trump. Fuck Republicans. Fuck their bizarrely-disturbing rallies and scary sense of nationalism poorly disguised as ‘patriotism.’ </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">Real patriotism, true patriotism, is literally fighting for our land; protecting and defending these sacred wild places — places where wild wolves and wild grizzlies still roam wild and free! — places that belong to us all! </span></div>
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<div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-size: 12pt;">Let’s remember that when we vote. I did. </span></div>
David Stallinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15153415881144120600noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4430759378404982127.post-20596284580318752932018-07-13T15:18:00.002-07:002018-07-14T12:10:31.461-07:00Killing Wolves with Randy Newberg (for Fun, Entertainment and Profit)<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUPm39zpQGqI4bFmPWH4cVYTv5iqAtQdGqS5U5BEjDRo_Fdk-kAMJb_tDPZeBSIRTeu87LHJmatII6pn7tcbwALf2gYMUr0atFA-3GKgs8jJaFo3ehHBc6nRKGCh5MguGYSDxWZbh3h6w/s1600/OYOA+wolf.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="449" data-original-width="800" height="179" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUPm39zpQGqI4bFmPWH4cVYTv5iqAtQdGqS5U5BEjDRo_Fdk-kAMJb_tDPZeBSIRTeu87LHJmatII6pn7tcbwALf2gYMUr0atFA-3GKgs8jJaFo3ehHBc6nRKGCh5MguGYSDxWZbh3h6w/s320/OYOA+wolf.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Randy Newberg (left) and Matt Clyde</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="color: #1d2129; margin: 0px;">Randy
Newberg -- a hunter who kills animals for entertainment and profit for his
Outdoor Channel show, "On Your Own Adventures" -- is a staunch
advocate for protecting our public lands. As a spokesperson for the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation and Backcountry Hunters and Anglers,
he has spoken out against proposals to transfer ownership of our federal lands to state and private entities and he has supported noble efforts to
"keep our public lands in public hands." However, Newberg seems to
think that our federal lands were created by the people of Montana, Wyoming and
Idaho, and that only they and hunters should have a say in how wildlife on our public
lands are managed. In a two-part series for his show, called "Montana Wolf
Hunting with Randy Newberg," he refers to those who oppose wolf
hunting as "wingnuts" and "screwballs," "from
wherever," and says they have no right "to tell us how to manage
wildlife." </span><br />
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="color: #1d2129; margin: 0px;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #1d2129; margin: 0px;">"All
wolves mean to them is money," says Newberg (who makes this statement
while filming a wolf-hunting show for profit.) He claims that wolf advocates are "disconnected" from the land and
disrupting the "lifestyle" and "culture" of locals, who are, so he claims, "connected to the land." </span><br />
<span style="color: #1d2129; margin: 0px;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #1d2129; margin: 0px;">It's a common "us vs them"
mentality I often here — “out-of-staters” vs “locals,” “anti-hunters” vs “hunters,”
but it's not true. There are many local folks, like me, who live here in
Montana, who hunt elk and deer, who fish, who spend a lot of time roaming the wilds, who are deeply-connected to the land, and who
oppose the killing of wolves for no legitimate reason (in Newberg's case, just for amusement, entertainment and profit).</span><br />
<span style="color: #1d2129; margin: 0px;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #1d2129; margin: 0px;">"The
people of Montana, Wyoming and Idaho protected these huge landscapes,"
Newberg says. "And then you people
come here and tell us how to do it? You screwed up your backyard so bad you
can't even get a rabbit to live there. And then you people come here and tell
us what we're going to do?" (Newberg moved to Montana in 1991 from Minnesota.) </span><br />
<span style="color: #1d2129; margin: 0px;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #1d2129; margin: 0px;">Actually,
our federal public lands -- which include National Forests managed by the U.S.
Forest Service; lands managed by the U.S. Bureau of Land Management; National
Parks managed by the U.S. Park Service, and National Wildlife Refuges
managed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service -- belong to all Americans, from
all over the United States. They were originally acquired through purchases,
such as the Louisiana Purchase, or through conquest, such as the Mexican
Cession. At first, the United States practiced a policy of disposing of these
lands, through programs such as the Homestead Act. Eventually,
through the leadership of numerous individuals and organizations such as
Theodore Roosevelt, John Muir, George Bird Grinnell, Gifford Pinchot, John Jay
Audubon, the National Wildlife Federation, the Boone and Crockett Club, the
Audubon Society, the Sierra Club and many others -- hunters and nonhunters, hunting groups
and nonhunting groups -- the public lands we enjoy today were set aside for
various reasons, to be protected and managed for various purposes, much of it,
in Pinchot's words, for "the greatest good to the greatest number of
people for the longest time." </span><br />
<span style="color: #1d2129; margin: 0px;"><i><br /></i></span><span style="color: #1d2129; margin: 0px;">For<i> the greatest good to the greatest number
of people.</i> Not for <i>the greatest number of hunted species for hunters. </i></span><br />
<span style="color: #1d2129; margin: 0px;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #1d2129; margin: 0px;">Our federal public lands were created and are maintained by all American
taxpayers. We hunters love to claim that we pay for conservation. However, on a
national-scale, when you look at the costs of protecting and maintaining the
federal lands where many of us hike, camp, backpack, watch wildlife, take photos, and yes,
hunt and fish, we hunters pay for about six-percent of the costs.</span><br />
<span style="color: #1d2129; margin: 0px;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #1d2129; margin: 0px;">Six percent.</span><br />
<span style="color: #1d2129; margin: 0px;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #1d2129; margin: 0px;">It's true that many state
wildlife agencies, such as the Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks,
are funded largely (up to 55 percent) through the sale of hunting and fishing
licenses, and they receive federal funds raised through excise taxes on hunting and
fishing equipment. But much of the state agency funding is also money allocated from state budgets,
and raised by all of us who pay taxes in our states. Hunters and nonhunters. A lot of that money --
with help from hunter-based conservation organizations -- has been used to
purchase and protect critical winter range, migratory corridors and other
habitat for elk, deer and other hunted species. Much of that has also benefit
nonhunted and threatened and endangered species, including wolves. </span><br />
<span style="color: #1d2129; margin: 0px;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #1d2129; margin: 0px;">The downfall
to such a system: Hunters have a huge influence over state wildlife management
decisions and management which mostly benefit hunted species, sometimes to the
detriment of other wildlife, particularly predators. </span><br />
<span style="color: #1d2129; margin: 0px;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #1d2129; margin: 0px;">No doubt about it, we
hunters have played and continue to play a huge role in restoring, enhancing, expanding and
protecting many wildlife species, particularly hunted species such as elk,
deer, pronghorn and bighorn sheep. </span><span style="color: #1d2129; margin: 0px;">Hence,
a lot of hunters like Newberg get pretty emotional and say things such as,</span><span style="margin: 0px;"> </span><span style="color: #1d2129; margin: 0px;">"We
protected these huge landscapes. And then you people come here and tell us how
to do it? You screwed up your backyard so bad you can't even get a rabbit to
live there. And then you people come here and tell us what we're going to
do?" </span><br />
<span style="color: #1d2129; margin: 0px;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #1d2129; margin: 0px;">Aside
from there being plenty of rabbits and other wildlife throughout the United States, even in urban back yards, and the fact that most land was “screwed up” and developed long before anyone alive today was
born, all Americans, and all state residents, help fund wildlife conservation
and management programs, and the protection of wildlife and wild places. We should all
have a say in how its managed. And some hunters, like me, don't do it
just so we have a place to hunt and animals to kill. Some of us do it because
we want to help protect, enhance and maintain healthy, functioning ecosystems
and landscapes for all wildlife, including wolves, even if that may sometimes
result in less hunting opportunity. This is why it's so offensive to some of us
hunters when Newberg says, "If you hunt, you hunt everything. You hunt
prey. You hunt predators. We have a responsibility to hunt wolves. We need to
manage them the way we manage every species." </span><br />
<span style="margin: 0px;"><br /></span>
<span style="margin: 0px;">I</span><span style="color: #1d2129; margin: 0px;">n his
wolf-hunting show, Newberg features David Allen, who was then the Executive
Director of the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation. Allen has called wolves
"the worst ecological disaster since the decimation of bison herds,"
and had repeatedly claimed that wolves are "decimating" elk herds. "To keep
wolf populations controlled, states will have to hold hunts, shoot wolves from
the air and gas their dens,” Allen has said. Under his leadership, the Elk
Foundation offered the state of Montana $50,000 to contract with the federal
Wildlife Services agency to “aggressively” kill more wolves. “And the next step
is the grizzly bear,” he said. “We’ve got bear issues with elk calves in the
spring -- both grizzly and black bear. We can’t have all these predators with
little aggressive management and expect to have ample game herds, and sell
hunting tags and generate revenue.” </span><br />
<span style="color: #1d2129; margin: 0px;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: #1d2129; margin: 0px;">Allen agreed with Newberg. "We need to
manage wolves like we manage all species," he said. "We need to hunt
them like we hunt all wildlife." Of course, we don't hunt all wildlife. We
don't, for example, hunt bald eagles, ravens or western tanagers. Animals that
are managed and hunted are generally, at least ideally, managed and hunted in accordance
with what we know about the biology, ecology, habits and behavior of those
species. This is why management actions and hunting seasons for elk and deer are not
the same as they are for, say, mountain goats and bighorn sheep. Not all wildlife is, or should be, managed the same. </span><br />
<span style="color: black; margin: 0px;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: black; margin: 0px;">One of
the cornerstones of our North American Model of Conservation</span><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; float: none; margin: 0px; orphans: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">
-- which hunters and hunting-based organizations love to tout and claim to
support -- is that wildlife </span><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; float: none; margin: 0px; orphans: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">be managed based on good, sound science. That
good, sound science shows that the return of wolves to much of the western
United States has resulted in significant overall, long-term benefits to
wildlife and the habitat that sustains them -- including the species we love to
hunt.</span><span style="color: #1d2129; margin: 0px;"> That good, sound science shows
that wolves, being a predator species, </span><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; float: none; margin: 0px; orphans: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="color: black; margin: 0px;">have altogether different, and self-regulating,
reproductive and survival behaviors and strategies than prey species. That
good, sound science shows that wolves have highly-complex social structures and breeding behaviors. </span><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; float: none; margin: 0px; orphans: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">That
good, sound science shows that if you inadvertently kill certain wolves -- such
as the dominant breeding female, for example -- it can throw the pack into
disarray, lead to the expansion and creation of more packs, lead to other
wolves breeding, and lead to more wolves. That good, sound science shows that
if you inadvertently kill certain wolves -- such as the dominant male or female
-- then younger wolves will fail to learn lessons from them, such as best ways and places to hunt, and this can change a pack's hunting behaviors and lead to incidences such as,
say, killing more domestic cattle rather than wild deer and elk.</span></span><br />
<span style="color: black; margin: 0px;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: black; margin: 0px;">That's what the science tells us. But a lot of hunters don't like good, sound
science when it contradicts what they want to believe. And a lot of state
wildlife agencies don't follow good, sound science when it goes against what hunters want to believe. That's why, in <span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; float: none; margin: 0px; orphans: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">Idaho, the fish and game department conducts
aerial shooting of wolves and sends bounty hunters into wilderness areas to
eliminate wolf packs despite the good, sound science and what know about wolf
behavior, ecology and biology. (See <a href="http://thoughtsfromthewildside.blogspot.com/2014/03/killing-wolves-hunter-led-war-against.html">Killing Wolves: A Hunter-Led War Against Science and Wildlife.</a>)</span></span><br />
<span style="color: black; margin: 0px;"><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; float: none; margin: 0px; orphans: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="color: black; margin: 0px;"><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; float: none; margin: 0px; orphans: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">That good, sound science doesn't play well to the membership of hunting organization's like the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation, or the viewers of programs like "On Your Own Adventures." It's more effective to boost membership, viewers, funding and profit by perpetuating lies, myths and misconceptions about wolves and simplify the issue as if it's "residents vs nonresidents," "hunters vs anti-hunters," "rational vs emotional," "informed vs uninformed," "connected vs disconnected." Ratings and profit are better when you tell hunters what they want to hear. Newberg knows his audience. </span></span><br />
<span style="color: black; margin: 0px;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: black; margin: 0px;">Despite the emotional, uninformed claims of apparently disconnected people like
Newberg and Allen, elk populations are increasing in most of the West. In
Idaho, the fish and game department is expanding elk hunting to reduce elk
populations while simultaneously killing wolves under the guise of protecting
and boosting elk numbers. Where elk populations do appear on the decline there
are plenty of factors to consider in addition to wolves: Changes in habitat;
the previous existence of artificially high elk populations at levels beyond
the viable carrying capacity of the land; lack of mature bulls and low
bull-to-cow ratios in herds (often resulting from early season hunting and too
much hunting pressure on bull elk) which influences the timing of the rut and
breeding behavior, the timing of spring calving, and often results in increased
vulnerability of elk calves to predation; influence of other predators
including mountain lions, black bears and grizzlies; unanticipated impacts of
various hunting regulations and hunting pressure, and changes in behavior and
habitat use by elk in the presence of wolves. And so on. Good, sound science can be complex. </span><br />
<span style="color: black; margin: 0px;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: black; margin: 0px;">Where I hunt, the growing presence of wolves has changed the behavior and habits
of elk. Elk bunch up more for safety, and move around more to evade and avoid
wolves. They are a lot more wary. I have adapted and adjusted to these changes
and have no problem finding elk. This is part of the beauty and value of
hunting within wilderness -- to adjust, adapt and be part of the landscape; to
be, as my friend David Petersen puts it, part of the "bedrock workings of
nature." We render the wilds a diminished abstract when we alter it
to suit our own needs and desires and, in the process, make it less healthy and
whole. There are those who espouse the virtues of backcountry hunting and yet
seem apathetic or supportive towards the destruction of backcountry integrity.
Those who understand the wilds -- those of who are connected to the land -- know
how critically important predators are to the health of the land.</span><br />
<span style="color: black; margin: 0px;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: black; margin: 0px;">This is, in large part, why I have no desire to kill my
fellow predators (that, and I strongly believe in only killing what you plan to
eat), despite Newberg’s ignorant insistence that it’s my “responsibility” to
kill wolves.</span><br />
<span style="color: black; margin: 0px;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: black; margin: 0px;">"We as hunters, we need to be out there hunting these wolves," he says. "This is part of who we are . . . that's part of our job. If you’re going to manage wildlife, you can’t just manage the prey species. You
have to manage the predator species, and anyone who thinks
otherwise, they need a quick education.” </span><br />
<span style="color: black; margin: 0px;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: black; margin: 0px;">At one point in his wolf-hunting show, Newberg worries that
his rifle may no longer be accurately sighted in, because he “dinged” his scope. If the scope was knocked out of sync, it could result in missing
or wounding a wolf. So to check it out he decides to test it, not on a target,
but on a living coyote. “That coyote will be a good way to find out,” he says. Apparently,
his rifle was still properly sighted; He killed the coyote in one shot. “I
just saved a lot of deer and a lot of antelope,” he says, before ranting again about wolves. </span><br />
<span style="color: black; margin: 0px;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: black; margin: 0px;">“I make zero apologies for hunting wolves,” he says. “I never will apologize
for hunting wolves. You’re damn right I’m a wolf-hunter, and I don’t care what
anyone thinks about it. We set the dinner table for these wolves, and we have
every right to be hunting these wolves.” </span><br />
<span style="color: black; margin: 0px;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: black; margin: 0px;">And hunt wolves they did, he and his hunting partner Matt Clyde, glassing the hills
with high-powered spotting scopes, running and jumping in the truck to drive
closer to where they spotted wolves, climbing the mountains and glassing some
more, running and jumping in the truck and driving some more. They spotted
some wolves back where they had been earlier and so ran and jumped in the truck and drove back
there again. (Newberg was frustrated when cattle were in
the road, slowing them down, increasing their driving time.) Then back up the
mountain again. Finally, there was a black wolf coming towards them. Clyde steadied
his rifle while Newberg measured the distance with a range-finder. </span><br />
<span style="color: black; margin: 0px;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: black; margin: 0px;">“Seven-hundred and fifty yards,” Newberg says . . . “500 yards . . . 480 . . . “
Clyde shoots. The wolf appears hit and runs a short distance. Clyde shoots again. The wolf goes down and struggles. Clyde shoots a third
time. The wolf is dead. “Congratulations. You made an amazing shot!” Newberg says. (I'm not sure which shot he's referring to.) “It was fun, it was exciting, and that’s why were out here,” he says, as Clyde
pets what Newberg refers to as “the big black dog in white snow” where it lays in a
large pool of blood. </span><br />
<span style="color: black; margin: 0px;"><br /></span>
<span style="color: black; margin: 0px;">“I’m going to hunt wolves every day I can that’s legal,” Newberg says. “Every day
that I have a tag. Every time I can protect these elk herds, I will be there. I
will have my rifle, and I will have my tags, and the wolves will be in trouble.”
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<b></b><i></i><u></u><sub></sub><sup></sup><strike></strike>David Stallinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15153415881144120600noreply@blogger.com18tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4430759378404982127.post-804158078281673132018-07-10T11:36:00.000-07:002018-07-10T12:59:59.346-07:00Killing Skye: Some Call It ‘Hunting’ <div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 12px; font-stretch: normal; line-height: normal;">
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPMvt6HhCA8jZzajppvA-mTL57xyYItXK6w83C3IKjWOSI-un7FfBgxwtiC7xMv-0AQ0U7uWeLTubu7isebB_DD8RU9ocGHKK5LgX2sJW7GK7SrM4qTV1LDG0jqXTSFkK9qKLct60Olts/s1600/bw-skye-the-lion-001.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="354" data-original-width="675" height="167" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhPMvt6HhCA8jZzajppvA-mTL57xyYItXK6w83C3IKjWOSI-un7FfBgxwtiC7xMv-0AQ0U7uWeLTubu7isebB_DD8RU9ocGHKK5LgX2sJW7GK7SrM4qTV1LDG0jqXTSFkK9qKLct60Olts/s320/bw-skye-the-lion-001.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Photo courtesy of Africa Geographic</td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">The photo on the left is of a popular lion known as Skye. Skye is missing. Skye is likely dead. Skye was likely baited in and killed by a guy named Jared Whitworth, a Safari Club member <span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; display: inline; float: none; font-family: "helvetica"; font-size: 16px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">from Hardinsburg, Kentucky, </span>who spends a lot of money to get permits and pay guides to lead him to and help him kill beautiful "trophy" animals for fun, status and ego-gratification. He (and others) call it "Hunting." </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">Here's what we know for sure: Whitworth recently paid to kill a baited, mature male lion near Kruger National Park in South Africa, within the home range of Skye and his pride. The trophy-killing industry, guides, so-called hunters, and agency officials are refusing to release details. Some claim he didn't kill Skye, but killed another mature male lion. But a</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">s Simon Espley, CEO of Africa Geographic, explains: </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">“The trophy hunting team insist that the lion killed was not Skye the pride male, claiming that he was in fact an old male lion with worn teeth and a protruding spine. But they refuse point blank to supply a photo of the dead lion to prove their claim, citing legal and personal safety concerns. Lynam and others insist that Skye the pride male was killed. According to Lynam, Skye has not been seen since the day of the killing of that lion. Additionally, one of his cubs has since been killed and some of the pride lionesses have been beaten up as a new coalition of males has moved into the area. This is classic lion behaviour when a dominant male is removed and new male/s move into the vacuum – cubs are killed (infanticide) and lionesses are beaten up as they try to defend their cubs.”</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">When asked if he could see the lion, one reporter was told by an agency official: “The moment the client pulled the trigger, the lion became his property. Consent to view can only be given by the client.”</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">The “client,” Jared Whitworth, has not given consent. He seems to be in hiding. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">Whitworth paid a ton of money (lion tags can sell for as high as $35,000 -- the bigger and more rare, the more expensive) to have guides bait a lion for him, into close range, and tell him where and when to shoot, back him up in case he missed, and then take photos of him proudly standing over the carcass. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">According to Espley: “Whitworth is a member of Safari Club International (SCI), which defines hunting success in terms of size and rarity. Apparently the larger the horns/tusks and rarer the animal, the more respect you are due for killing it. Whitworth’s 15-year-old daughter was awarded the title ‘2018 SCI Young Hunter of the Year,’ and the SCI website features her proudly posing with a massive buffalo she killed.”</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">Other hunters defend such actions and insultingly refer to killers like Whitworth as “hunters” and “conservationists.” They confuse paying guides to help you kill for ego and amusement with hunting, and they confuse conservation (the protecting of wildlife, wild places, and healthy, functioning ecosystems) with animal husbandry (protecting, and often raising and producing, certain types of animals as marketable commodities that some people will pay to kill -- often to the detriment of other wildlife, and healthy, functioning ecosystems). Many hunters -- always fearful of "anti-hunters" hiding behind every bush, trying to put an end to their "traditions" and "way of life" -- defensively dig in and rally around the flag to defend such actions with tiresome (some partially-true, but mostly questionable, easily-refuted bullshit) claims of these senseless vanity killings being “good for conservation,” “good for local economies,” “good for the species,” and “providing financial incentives to protect animals.” </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">When I listen to them I sometimes imagine General George Custer and his 215-or-so detachment of soldiers facing 10,000 angry Sioux and Cheyenne warriors. As my friend Jim Posewitz (himself a hunter) puts it: “Circling the wagons is not a good defense when there are already far too many opponents surrounding the wagons.” </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">People are fed up with it. I’m one of them, and I’m a hunter. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">There are good folks who criticize me for being a hunter. It does, indeed, seem contradictory to my love for wildlife and wild places. I welcome challenges that cause me to thoroughly examine and attempt to justify my actions and evolving beliefs. Here’s how I justify my actions: </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "arial" , "tahoma" , "helvetica" , "freesans" , sans-serif; font-size: 15.84000015258789px;">I spend all the time I can in elk country near my home in western Montana, year-round, hiking, backpacking, backcountry skiing and snowshoeing, observing and admiring elk. And yet, each fall I head into elk country with the intent to kill one. Why? Partly because I can think of no more ecologically-sound way to live in my part of the world. I cherish wild elk meat; it's healthy, and it's derived from healthy, native grasses and forbs in the wilderness near my home.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "arial" , "tahoma" , "helvetica" , "freesans" , sans-serif; font-size: 15.84000015258789px;">I half-jokingly like to think I'm a vegetarian of sorts, living off the the wild grasses, sedges and forbs that grow near my home. Most these plants are not directly palatable to humans, so I let elk convert them to protein for me. Perhaps someday I can travel through the digestive system of a grizzly and fertilize the vegetation that elk eat: Seems only fair considering all the elk I've killed and eaten.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "arial" , "tahoma" , "helvetica" , "freesans" , sans-serif; font-size: 15.84000015258789px;">We're all part of this land.</span><br />
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "arial" , "tahoma" , "helvetica" , "freesans" , sans-serif; font-size: 15.84000015258789px;">I hunt to experience and celebrate a fundamental connection with nature, because we must all kill to eat, and eating elk nourished on native grasses and forbs has as low an impact on the environment as any of the alternatives. Even eating soybeans and soy-based products supports an agricultural industry that displaces and destroys wildlife habitat to grow a non-native plant, requiring irrigation, pesticides, herbicides, fossil fuels, trucks, roads and industry to be shipped around the country. Not to mention the thousands of deer and other wildlife killed to protect valuable agricultural crops. Most people are not aware of the impacts of their lifestyles and actions, or they choose to live in denial. Aldo Leopold wrote: "There are two spiritual dangers in not owning a farm. One is the danger of supposing that breakfast comes from the grocery, and the other that heat comes from the furnace."</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "arial" , "tahoma" , "helvetica" , "freesans" , sans-serif; font-size: 15.84000015258789px;">We all kill to eat.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: white; font-family: "arial" , "tahoma" , "helvetica" , "freesans" , sans-serif; font-size: 15.84000015258789px;">But should we kill for ego, amusement, entertainment and profit? Does paying a guide to lead you to, or bait in an animal and tell you when and where to shoot really pass as “hunting”? Can we justify killing big, rare animals to get our names into record books to boost our image, ego and status among certain segments of society when most of society understandably finds it abhorrent, immoral and unethical? </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">No. We can't. There is no legitimate justification and defense. None!</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">Is my position, in large part, an emotional one? Hell yes! You’re damn right it is! If you can’t get emotional about arrogant, narcissistic, wealthy people paying thousands of dollars for guides to lead them to beautiful animals, or bait those animals in, and tell them where and when to pull the trigger, so they can kill those animals to gratify their egos, then what in the hell can you ever get emotional about? It's a very emotional issue, as it should be. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">It’s wrong! There is no biological, social, ethical or moral justification for it. There is no legitimate defense. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">Let’s stop confusing killing with hunting, and wildlife conservation with animal husbandry. It’s time to put an end to the senseless, indefensible, unjustifiable trophy-killing of animals for vanity, ego-gratification and status. It's time to put an end to an industry that treats these animals as mere economic commodities to meet ego-driven demands. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">As Espley concludes: “I have great faith that in time trophy hunting in the Greater Kruger will be replaced by a more ethical, more relevant sustainable land-use strategy. This will take time, but it will happen.” </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 12pt;">Let's hope that happens everywhere -- the sooner the better.<br /><br /><br />NOTES:<br /><br /><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: transparent; color: #1d2129; font-family: Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="display: inline; font-family: Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif; margin-top: 0px;">* A 2015 study reported by National Geographic concludes that government corruption, especially in Zimbabwe, prevents most trophy-hunting fees from going towards any conservation efforts, with authorities keeping the fees for themselves. </span></span><span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: transparent; color: #1d2129; font-family: Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;"><br style="font-family: Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;" /><br style="font-family: Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;" /><span style="display: inline; font-family: Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif; margin-top: 0px;">* Some governments are taking over more wildlife areas so as to profit from poaching and trophy hunting (a consequence of creating commercial markets for parts of wildlife). </span><br style="font-family: Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;" /><br style="font-family: Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;" /><span style="display: inline; font-family: Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif; margin-top: 0px;">* A 2017 report by the Australian-based Economists at Large says that trophy hunting amounted to less than one percent of tourism revenue in eight African countries. </span><br style="font-family: Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;" /><br style="font-family: Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;" /><span style="display: inline; font-family: Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif; margin-top: 0px;">* According to an <span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: transparent; border-collapse: collapse; border-spacing: 0px 0px; color: #666666; display: inline !important; float: none; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,Sans-Serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; letter-spacing: normal; list-style: none; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">International Union for Conservation of Nature </span>report from 2009, surrounding communities in West Africa receive little benefit from the hunting-safari business. </span><br style="font-family: Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;" /><br style="font-family: Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;" /><span style="display: inline; font-family: Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif; margin-top: 0px;">* There are a lot of wildlife studies pertaining to how the genetic health and social behaviors of species is adversely affected because trophy hunters often kill the largest or most significant male of a species. The removal of the most significant animals (because of the size of their horns or mane for example) can severely affect the health of a species population. As Dr. Rob Knell states "Because these high-quality males with large secondary sexual traits tend to father a high proportion of the offspring, their 'good genes' can spread rapidly, so populations of strongly sexually selected animals can adapt quickly to new environments. Removing these males reverses this effect and could have serious and unintended consequences. If the population is having to adapt to a new environment and you remove even a small proportion of these high quality males, you could drive it to extinction."</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;" /><br style="font-family: Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;" /><span style="display: inline; font-family: Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif; margin-top: 0px;">* A 2004 study by the University of Port Elizabeth estimated that eco-tourism on private game reserves generated more than 15 times the income of livestock or game rearing or trophy hunting. </span><br style="font-family: Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;" /><br style="font-family: Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;" /><span style="display: inline; font-family: Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif; margin-top: 0px;">* Researchers also noted that more money was raised and more jobs were created (and staff received "extensive skills training") from eco-tourism than trophy hunting.</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;" /><br style="font-family: Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;" /><span style="display: inline; font-family: Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif; margin-top: 0px;">* The U.S. House Committee on Natural Resources in 2016 concluded that trophy hunting may be contributing to the extinction of certain animals.</span><br style="font-family: Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;" /><br style="font-family: Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;" /><span style="display: inline; font-family: Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif; margin-top: 0px;">* Conservationist groups such as the <span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: transparent; color: #666666; display: inline !important; float: none; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,Sans-Serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: nowrap; word-spacing: 0px;">International Fund for Animal Welfare </span>assert that trophy hunting is a key factor in the "silent extinction" of giraffes. </span><br style="font-family: Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;" /><br style="font-family: Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif;" /><span style="display: inline; font-family: Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif; margin-top: 0px;">* The David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust, an elephant conservation organization, believe that elephants bring in significantly more revenue from tourists who want to see them alive. Their 2013 report stated "alive, they benefit local communities and economies; dead they benefit an elite few as well as criminal and even terrorist groups."</span></span></span><br /></span></div>
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David Stallinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15153415881144120600noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4430759378404982127.post-34786639142282955482018-04-24T15:45:00.000-07:002018-04-24T15:46:04.496-07:00In the Hunting World, There is no Room for Dissent (You Can't Go Home)<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; background-color: transparent; color: #1d2129; font-family: Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; margin-bottom: 6px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; orphans: 2; text-align: left; text-decoration: none; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px;">
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A few days ago I read a good essay written by an outdoor writer I have long admired and respected. It was about how we hunters, through license fees and excise taxes on hunting equipment, pay most the bill for state wildlife management and habitat protection. Which is true. But then it delved into the tiresome, arrogant, widely-touted, propaganda-sort-of bullshit about how we hunters care about and do more for wildlife and wild places than non-hunters.</div>
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I complimented the writer, but offered a respectful dissenting view regarding some of the flaws to our North American Model of Wildlife Management — the type of flaws Aldo Leopold himself recognized when he helped shape and influence the system more than 60 years ago — in which we hunters have the most power and influence, and therefore management sometimes emphasizes hunted species such as deer and elk to the detriment of non-hunted species, particularly fellow predators such as wolves and grizzlies.</div>
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My remarks were met with flippant arrogance and disdain. Like other aspects of our society, there is very little room in the hunting world for dissent or intelligent discord. You’re either with them or against them. You’re fully on the bandwagon or you get booted and run over. You get in line, share and praise the propaganda, or you’re voted off the island. Shut up or be shunned.</div>
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I deleted my comments. I ‘unfriended’ the writer. I abandoned my attempt at discussion. It’s no longer worth it. I’m tired.</div>
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I’ve been hunting most my life, and spent more than 25 years writing about hunting and working for hunter conservation groups. I spent ten years working as a writer and conservation editor for a popular hunting magazine produced by a large hunter-conservation organization. I helped found Hellgate Hunters and Anglers in Missoula. I served two terms as president of Montana’s largest and oldest hunting conservation organization (a group that, in more recent times, fired me). Back in 2000, they selected me as Montana’s Professional Conservationist of the Year. I served on the board of directors of the Outdoor Writers Association of America and won several awards from the group. I’ve killed and consumed a pile of wild elk and deer. </div>
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But I just no longer fit in. I’m not sure I ever did. I still try at times. Sometimes I miss it. </div>
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Sure, I brought much of it on myself as a result of personal struggles (including some addiction issues) and by burning (demolishing?) a few bridges. I think, to some degree, coming out of the closet had something to do with it. But I’ve apparently lost all credibility and respect in the world where I once served as a leader. An employee of one of the better hunter conservation groups (“the sportsmen’s voice for our wild public lands, waters and wildlife”) recently, publicly ridiculed “green weenie tree-huggers,” insulted me, and told me “we have nothing in common and nothing to talk about” when I attempted to discuss it with him. (I quit.) </div>
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I’m on the Island of Misfit Toys. I’m an anti-hunter who hunts. </div>
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So now I stock fruits and vegetables at a grocery store for slightly-above minimum wage, and I’m always broke.</div>
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Sometimes I wish I could jump aboard and remain on the bandwagon; be a good, well-behaved, agreeable member of the good-old-boy (and gal) hunting clubs that even the best of groups have become. But there’s no turning back. You really can’t go home.</div>
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<b></b><i></i><u></u><sub></sub><sup></sup><strike></strike><br />David Stallinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15153415881144120600noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4430759378404982127.post-71320573441688483242018-01-13T11:58:00.001-08:002018-01-13T12:04:29.114-08:00Backcountry Hunters and Anglers: Don't Fear Wilderness (Great Places To Hunt and Fish!) <div data-block="true" data-editor="b2iu2" data-offset-key="cohp-0-0">
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<span data-offset-key="f8pal-0-0"><span data-text="true">When Backcountry Hunters and Anglers (BHA) was founded, they took strong positions in defense of designated roadless lands and wilderness -- the places many of us refer to as, well . . . "the backcountry." Recently, the Montana Chapter of BHA responded to proposed legislation by Senator Steve Daines (R-Montana) to open Wilderness Study Areas to motorized use and development. </span></span></div>
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<span data-offset-key="9s64e-0-0"><span data-text="true">Fortunately, BHA is doing the right thing and opposing the actions. That's good. But why are they opposing it? </span></span></div>
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<span data-offset-key="1oks8-0-0"><span data-text="true">"We oppose top-down management," they say. Seriously, t</span></span><span data-offset-key="4vr7v-0-0"><span data-text="true">hat's their stance; "We oppose top-down management." </span></span></div>
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<span data-offset-key="29i8u-0-0"><span data-text="true">The organization doesn't say it supports wilderness study areas and roadless lands. The organization doesn't say they support wilderness designation. The organization doesn't explain why wilderness and wilderness study areas are critical to many of the wild animals we like to hunt in wild places. They say they oppose "top-down management." (I'm assuming, and hoping, they do support top-down management when a president, says, gives national monument status to some special federal lands?) </span></span></div>
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<span data-offset-key="canre-0-0"><span data-text="true">Why the lame, weak political speak? I assume that, once again, they are afraid of confirming any talk about them being "greenies" and "environmentalists." They don't want to be perceived as "Green Decoys," as some industry-backed opponents of our public lands accuse them off. The word "Wilderness," (the big "W" word), should be avoided at all costs, I often heard during my many years working for hunting-conservation organizations. It may offend people. </span></span><span data-offset-key="1f3do-0-0"><span data-text="true">(One of BHA's employees publically ridicules us "tree-hugging," "enviros" "greenies" and assures people that he, and BHA, don't fit in with us green folks!) </span></span></div>
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<span data-offset-key="b66vm-0-0"><span data-text="true">So once again, instead of being bold leaders and speaking on the values of wilderness and wilderness study areas -- for healthy watersheds, for wild cutthroat and bull trout, for grizzlies and wolves and other wildlife, for hunting and fishing -- they worry about who they might offend and whether or not they'll be perceived as "green-weenie tree-huggers." </span></span></div>
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<div class="_1mf _1mj" data-offset-key="edf39-0-0">
<span data-offset-key="edf39-0-0"><span data-text="true">They're playing right into the hands of their opponents. They should stop worrying about appeasing those who will likely never support them and be the bold leaders they pretend to be -- be more like Theodore Roosevelt, Aldo Leopold and other past, bold leaders we love to quote. </span></span>Help educate and inform hunters and anglers about the importance of wilderness; don't evade and avoid the topic. It's okay to be green!<br />
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Be green. Be proud. Be Bold. Be Leaders!<br />
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The green, proud, bold leaders at Trout Unlimited set a good example with their bumper sticker: <br />
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"Wilderness: A Great Place To Hunt and Fish." </div>
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David Stallinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15153415881144120600noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4430759378404982127.post-55928233527253756782017-12-15T10:36:00.000-08:002024-01-15T20:41:37.187-08:00On the Wild Edge: Hunting for a Natural Life<br />
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">I sometimes feel like an anti-hunter who hunts. <br /><br />I recently felt
that way when I watched a popular celebrity hunter claim that “we hunters” brought
wildlife back from the brink of extinction, and therefore it’s ours, and
nonhunters have no right ruining everything with actions such as “bringing
wolves back.” Another so-called hunting hero claims to hunt for meat while
traveling the world and paying guides to help him kill more animals per-year
than Disney's Gaston himself could consume. Both hunting "reality-show" hosts are spokesman,
of sorts, for one of the better hunting-conservation organizations, which claims
to be “the sportsmen’s voice” for hunters.</span></div><div style="margin: 0px 0px 11px;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">They don’t speak for me.</span></div><div style="margin: 0px 0px 11px;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Neither do the more popular groups who claim wolves are annihilating
elk herds; hunters are being “shut out” of our public lands because we can’t
ride ATVs everywhere; we need to kill grizzlies, and there’s “anti-hunters”
hiding behind every tree, out to stop our “God-given American heritage and way
of life.” They tend to focus more on and defend hunting opportunity rather than conservation.<br />
<br />
Despite bragging about a successful “North American Model of Wildlife
Management,” with tenants against the commercialization of wildlife and in
support of “sound, scientific” management, hunting has become tremendously
commercialized and many hunters only support “scientific management” when the
science supports their preconceived notions (such as slaughtering wolves to maintain artificially high populations of elk for hunters to kill). <span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>Even the most conservation-minded hunting
groups go with the flow to appease the masses – or, what the famed hunter-conservationist
Aldo Leopold called “the lowest common denominator.” </span></div>
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 11px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Among the so-called “conservation organizations” that a giant sporting-goods
chain boasts about giving money to is the National Rifle Association – apparently
because they “conserve” our “right” to hunt with weapons designed for war, capable
of killing, say, 20 kids and seven adults at an elementary school kids in less
than five minutes; 49 people at a nightclub, or 58 at a concert? <span style="margin: 0px;"> </span></span></div><div style="margin: 0px 0px 11px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">
Although I’ve pursued, killed and eaten numerous elk and deer from the backcountry
of Montana over the past 30-plus years, I belong on the Island of Misfit
Hunters; I just don’t fit in. <span style="margin: 0px;"> </span><span lang="EN" style="line-height: 107%; margin: 0px;"><br />
<br />
Aldo Leopold addressed such issues more than 50 years ago. One of his
conclusions: “The sportsman has no leaders to tell him what is wrong. The
sporting press no longer represents sport; it has turned billboard for the
gadgeteer. Wildlife administrators are too busy producing something to shoot at
to worry much about the cultural value of the shooting.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit;">There are, however, leaders.
They just don’t appeal to the corrupted culture of hunting – they don’t bring
in the money like the hunting equipment and entertainment industry does. <br />
<br />
When people new to hunting ask me for good learning material, I don’t send them
to the Outdoor Channel or Outdoor Life. I suggest they read “A Sand Country Almanac”
by Aldo Leopold; “Beyond Fair Chase: The Ethics and Traditions of Hunting,” by
Jim Posewitz, and “A Hunter’s Heart: Honest Essays on Blood Sport,” by David
Petersen – an anthology of writers who are leaders regarding the moral and
ethical challenges of hunting. <br />
<br />
After watching a film produced by Christopher Daley, called <a href="https://youtu.be/-IE58L4bqEA?si=e8wIkhZHkU1Q7Oxm">“On The Wild Edge: Hunting For a Natural Life,”</a> I now also recommend it not only to new hunters,
but all hunters; a “must watch” if ever there was one. I never thought I could
enjoy a hunting video. I was wrong. Then again, calling “On the Wild Edge” a
hunting video is like calling “A River Runs Through It” a fishing story. It may
be true, but doesn’t quite to it justice, perhaps could even come across as an
insult.<br />
<br />
The film focuses on writer, philosopher and hunter David Petersen, “taking us
along on the most difficult hunt of his life, revealing the intimate connection
to the wild place and wild experiences that define him as a person and informs
his strict code of ethics.” He, too, is a hunter critical of hunting. “I want
the good part to prosper,” he says. “But I hate what our culture has done to
that.” With people seeking easier, faster, more high-tech ways to find and kill
animals, we lose the kind of hunting that “bonds us to this world,” he says. <br />
<br />
During the 67-minute video, we see a lot more than David Petersen hunting. We hear
elk bugling, yes, but we also see and hear ravens, jays, bears and watch a
chipmunk attempt to rob him from his hunting pack – all seemingly unaware of
his presence. In other words: We see and hear (and can almost smell) what
hunters often see, hear and smell -- the wilds. <span style="margin: 0px;"> But we also get to hear Petersen's informed thoughts and philosophies on hunting. </span>He says his “Zen-like” approach allows him to
spy on the "intimate, relaxed side" to wildlife. “Hunting often has nothing to do
with killing, and everything to do with an honest engagement with life.”</span></div><div style="margin: 0px 0px 11px;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span>We also meet his friend Thomas, who he calls “Mr. T.” and
Thomas’ father and grandfather, three generations of hunters, “who value meat
and dignity over macho, and deeply respect elk and elk country.” <br /><br />What we don't see or hear is just as telling: We don't watch an elk get shot and die, and we don't see or hear promotions for hunting gadgets, products and profit. This film is NOT sponsored by the NRA or the Sportsman Channel. It's a real hunting video.<br /><br />
</span><span>Petersen is an articulate, thoughtful hunter whose carefully-chosen words
reflect knowledge and wisdom that comes from living a life so close
to the land. “Ethically-hunted wild game offers huge, moral and health-advantages
over chemically-polluted, production-line meat products,” he says. “Wild meat
is organic, local and, done right, cruelty-free -- a gift from nature that
sustains a bond of reciprocity between thoughtful hunters, our food and the
wild landscapes that nurture us all, predator and prey alike."</span></span></div>
<span style="line-height: 107%; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Petersen talks as passionately about his love for
his wife, Carolyn, as he does for the land, which he makes clear is all interconnected.
With cancer soon to take her away, he talks about how it “increasingly reminds
me of life’s bittersweet fate -- Carolyn, the elk and me.” He hopes his ashes will
someday be mixed with hers among the aspen groves he so loves, and the bones of
elk he has killed, nurturing the lives that nurtured him.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span></span></span></span></span></span><div><span style="line-height: 107%; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span></span></span></span></div><div><span style="line-height: 107%; margin: 0px;"><span><span><span style="font-size: small;"><span><span style="font-family: inherit;">“It’s deeply personal,” he concludes. “Every
aspect of this isn’t pretty. But it’s real, it’s natural, it’s the way life works.
In the end, all thing pass. That’s the song of life.” </span><span style="font-family: inherit; margin: 0px;"> </span><br />
<br /><span style="font-family: inherit;">Filmmaker Christopher Daley says his hope for the film is that it
captures David and Carolyn Petersens’ “exemplary commitment to living honest,
uncluttered lives not merely ‘close to nature,’ but as active players in and
courageous defenders of wild nature.” </span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: inherit;">To watch the </span>documentary<span style="font-family: inherit;">, click here:</span></span> <a href="https://youtu.be/-IE58L4bqEA?si=e8wIkhZHkU1Q7Oxm">ON THE WILD EDGE</a>.<u style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 11pt;"><br /></u><u style="font-family: inherit; font-size: 11pt;"><br /><br /><br /></u></span></span></span></span></div>David Stallinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15153415881144120600noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4430759378404982127.post-30868312417801217312017-08-14T12:03:00.001-07:002017-08-14T14:52:36.257-07:00A Volatile Brew of Plausible Deniability<div class="text_exposed_root text_exposed" id="id_5991ec3cb171b2449150472">
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It's 2017. Are we seriously anxiously awaiting for the so-called president of the United States to denounce white supremacy, and act relieved when or if he actually does? <br />
<br />
"They're thugs," he says. <br />
<br />
They're not thugs. They're not hoodlums. They're not hooligans. They're fucking racists. Terrorists! They think they're better than others because of the color of their skin, and they use bullying, threats, intimidation, fear and violence in an attempt to subdue and control others.<br />
<br />
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They think they're better than others because, in large part, the GOP leadership, for years, has told them they're better than others. They tell them that minorities hate them. They tell them that non-whites are all on welfare and living off their hard-earned tax dollars. They tell them that non-whites rape, rob and kill. They tell them that non-whites are sneaking across our borders and taking their jobs. They tell them that non-whites are turning their religious beliefs into law and supplanting U.S. law. They tell them that those who don't believe them hate America and are part of the problem. They tell them they need guns, lots and lots of guns, to defend themselves and America. They tell them all this and more, lots more, to feed, instill and incite fear, anger, hate and win votes. <br />
<br />
In the meantime it is they, the GOP leadership, taking their money and health care and jobs and brain matter and souls to increase wealth and power for a relatively small percentage of elitists.<br />
<br />
And people believe them. People fucking believe them! People who think they are superior to others do not have the brain power of critical thinking to see the obvious; to see what's right in front of their noses. They could be drowning in the hot floods of climate change and if the GOP leadership tells them it's the fault of non-whites and gays and liberals and refugees and only they, only the GOP leadership, the only real Americans, can throw them a lifeline . . . they actually fucking believe it! <br />
<br />
And so they flood to the polls and vote Republican. They wave American flags and evoke the name of Jesus while ranting against refugees, the poor, the sick, the libtards, the snowflakes, the non-whites . . . the 'others'. They want to make America great again.<br />
<br />
This volatile mix of frustration, confusion, ignorance, half-truths, lies and, yes, stupidity boils over to anger, rage, hate and violence. Some now wave Confederate flags, and Gadsten "Don't Tread on Me" flags and Nazi flags. Nazi flags! In the United States of America. <br />
<br />
Some drive their cars into hordes of peaceful protesters.<br />
<br />
Thugs?<br />
<br />
These people think they're true Americans. The only Americans. Patriots! And they're dangerously dumb enough to think they're superior.<br />
<br />
It's a recipe for insanity, and GOP leaders are the master brewers, adding a potent dose of plausible deniability, while continually feeding the monsters of their creation growing out of control.<br />
<br />
They call these monsters "Thugs." </div>
</div>
David Stallinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15153415881144120600noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4430759378404982127.post-53522824129982554782017-07-29T14:51:00.002-07:002017-07-29T17:48:43.449-07:00Extremely Extreme Huntress: Get Out of Bed and Get Some! <div data-contents="true">
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Extreme Huntress Kristi Puts the Hammer on a Coyote </td></tr>
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<span data-offset-key="bc44n-0-0"><span data-text="true">Backcountry Hunters and Anglers has organized a "get in shape for hunting with fellow hunters hike" up to the "M" on Mount Sentinel in Missoula, Montana, early Monday and Tuesday mornings ("Hunting season's just around the corner . . . so get out of bed and get some!"). You don't want to miss it, I am told, because Kristy Titus will be on the hike! </span></span></div>
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<span data-offset-key="2jjlf-0-0"><span data-text="true">Not wanting to miss anything big, and not knowing who Kristy is, I looked her up. </span></span></div>
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<span data-offset-key="1ilqs-0-0"><span data-text="true">Kristy is an "Extreme Huntress" who apparently wears a lot of make-up while traveling the world and sometimes paying guides to help her kill a variety of animals for profit, entertainment and amusement. She represents the wolf-hating Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation as part of "Team Elk," and hosts "NRA Women" while appearing on a variety of hunting shows (including "Pursue the Wild") to promote and defend our "hunting heritage," which nowadays seems to mean supporting an industry of high-tech gadgets as well as policies that diminish our wildlife and wild places while waving a "conservation" flag, quoting Aldo Leopold and pretending to be Theodore Roosevelt. <br /><br />"Stand and fight with NRA!" she says. . . you know, the gun-industry's public relations firm and branch of the GOP that helps fund the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) -- which is leading the push to sell our public lands -- as well as backing politicians who deny climate change and other science, and want to gut the Clean Air Act, Clean Water Act, the Endangered Species Act, the Environmental Protection Agency and other laws, regulations and agencies that protect the wildlife and wild places we claim to cherish -- all so we can focus on the more important, bogus, fear-mongering claims of fictitious boogeymen (and boogeywomen) who are surely going to take all of our guns away . . . one of these days . . . you'll see! </span></span></div>
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<span data-offset-key="ebl02-0-0"><span data-text="true">But hey, she extremely pursues extremely dangerous game in extremely rugged, extremely dangerous, extreme places while looking extremely good, just like all the famous macho-men hunting heroes who kill for profit, amusement and entertainment. That's pretty extremely cool, dude . . . right? </span></span></div>
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<span data-offset-key="2oka4-0-0"><span data-text="true">In one of her "Out West with Kristy Titus" live-blog videos -- sponsored by RealTree, Swarovski Optik, RMEF Team Elk, Trophy-Taker, Cabela's and "Always Lethal" Under Armour -- she shares tips from the Titus family ("excellent sources of information for coyote and bobcat hunting") on killing predators. As a bonus, she puts "the hammer" on a coyote so we can all watch the animal die as many times as we want in regular and slow motion. </span></span></div>
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<span data-offset-key="73jkp-0-0"><span data-text="true">In another of her shows she shoots and wounds a bear from 450 yards. Then she shoots and wounds it some more from 300 yards. The bear retreats to its den where she eventually kills it. You can watch this extremely exciting, extremely daring, extreme "hunt" right from the comfort of your recliner while eating chips and drinking beer. (I recommend a RealTree camouflage chair and Busch special hunting-season beer in camouflage cans.) </span></span></div>
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<span data-offset-key="86kg7-0-0"><span data-text="true">Perhaps we can soon watch Kristy, Randy Newburg, Steven Rinella and other extremely rugged, extremely fearless and extremely amazing backcountry hunting entertainers share their extreme grizzly-killing tips while putting the extreme hammer, and the big extreme kibosh, on an extremely rugged, extremely deadly, extremely dangerous extreme Montana griz hunt! Stay tuned (and be sure to have extra chips and cammo beer on hand).<br /><br />Commercial Message: In the meantime, be sure to head to Cabela's and get Kristy's "Pursue The Wild" elk call line by Rocky Mountain Hunting Calls -- The "Wild Frenzy Bugle," "Wild Fury Diaphragm" and "Ignite-Her-Wild" external reed cow calls, available now! (I hear rumors there's a new one coming out: "The Whining Crying Baby Calf Calling For Mommy Which Infuriates the Huge Bully Bull Who Will Come Running In Fast -- Whether He wants to or Not -- Diaphragm Elk Call Extreme!")<br /><br />Hunting season's just around the corner: Get out of bed and get some! </span></span></div>
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<b></b><i></i><u></u><sub></sub><sup></sup><strike></strike><b></b><i></i><u></u><sub></sub><sup></sup><strike></strike><br />David Stallinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15153415881144120600noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4430759378404982127.post-54718684943817421222017-05-29T12:44:00.000-07:002017-09-26T11:14:40.038-07:00Freedom is Freedom: Practice it. Enjoy It. Respect it.<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="line-height: 107%; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Late
one dark August night in 1983, at Camp Lejeune, </span><span style="margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">North Carolina, I sat in an old concrete
bunker on Onslow Beach with my friend and fellow Marine Michael Sauls, sharing
a bottle of Jack Daniels and listening to the rhythm of crashing waves from the Atlantic.
<br /><br />We’d gone through boot camp together at Parris Island and Infantry Training
School at Camp Geiger. We both excelled and were invited to compete, along with dozens of others, for three available slots in Force Recon. I came in third place and
went to Force; Michael came in a close fourth and went to Recon Battalion -- but only because he sprained his ankle on an obstacle course. He held a grudge against me for awhile. I was where he should have been, and he was where I would have been. <br /><br />It was a strange
twist of fate that occasionally haunts me to this day. <br />
<br />
On that particular summer night I was jealous; he and his unit were readying to ship
out, somewhere far across the vast, dark ocean in front of us. Training was
over, and it was time to put it all to the test. <br /><br />We talked a lot that night,
about anticipation, fear, excitement, war and what separates good warriors from
bad. We also talked about fishing. I told him about a photo I had of my dad
fishing off this very beach, in the 1940s, when the base was known simply as “Tent
City,” before he shipped off to fight on Saipan, Tinian, Okinawa and Iwo Jima. </span><span style="margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">Now it was our turn. Well . . . at least his
turn. At some point, when the bottle of Jack went from half-full to half-empty
and beyond, we talked about patriotism. <br />
<br />
“Everyone should have to recite the Pledge of Allegiance every morning,” I said.
<br />
“I don’t think so,” Michael replied. <br /><br />
It surprised me, and irritated me a bit. <br />
<br />“Freedom is freedom,” he said. “People should do whatever they want if it doesn’t
hurt anyone else. Nobody should be forced to do what they don’t want to do,
just because others think they should. I believe in freedom. That’s why I’m a
Marine.” <br />
<br />
Two months later Michael Sauls was killed when two separate suicide bombers –
part of a group calling themselves “Islamic Jihad” – drove trucks full of explosives
into the Marine barracks in Beirut, Lebanon. </span><span style="margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">He was among 220 Marines (241 American servicemen)
</span><span style="margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">who died that day. <br />
<br />
I thought of Michael a few days ago when I saw a meme on a USMC Force Recon
Association Facebook Page depicting a photo of actor R. Lee Ermey looking angry
and threatening, playing the role of fictitious Marine Drill Instructor Gunnery
Sergeant Hartman in the movie “Full Metal Jacket.” The fictitious caption,
attributed to the fictitious Gunny Hartman, reads: “THE NATIONAL ANTHEM: When
it plays you get off your ass, put your hand over your heart, remove your
headgear, and render the proper respect!” <br />
<br />
“HELL YEAH!!! OOORAH!!” wrote the person who posted it. <br />
“Damn straight!” responded another. <br />
“Bullshit!” I responded. </span></span><br />
<span style="line-height: 107%; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span>
</span><span lang="EN" style="line-height: 107%; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">“I served in Force Recon to help protect the American
ideals of freedom and liberty for all, including freedom of choice,” I wrote. “If
someone doesn't want to stand for the national anthem, that's their choice. In
a free country, they should not be compelled to do so -- not even by an actor
who pretended to be a DI in a movie. I support and will defend with my life
such freedom.</span></span><span style="line-height: 107%; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">”<br />
<br />
A fellow Marine dared me to say such a thing at the next Force Recon Reunion, “and
see how fast you get your ass kicked!”</span><span style="margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">
</span></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">He called me a “traitor,” and questioned if I were truly a Force Recon
Marine. He said my friends who died – including Michael Sauls – “are rolling
over in their graves.” <br />
<br />
It’s an attitude growing dangerously prevalent in our society. People love “freedom”
as long as you think and act just like they do. If you don’t, you can’t truly
be a real Marine, or a real American, or a real patriot. </span><span style="margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">It seems those who most adamantly defend the
Constitution, the principles of our Founders, and the American way know and
understand the least about it.</span><span style="margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">
Some people </span></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">seem to think they have a monopoly on
patriotism. Those who don't agree with them "hate America,” they say. “Love it or leave it!” <br />
<br />
How about this one? <i>“</i></span><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>I disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the
death your right to say it.”</i><br />
<br />
The fellow Force Recon Marine who called me a “traitor” asked me: “</span></span><span lang="EN" style="color: #1d2129; line-height: 107%; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">What would make you post this unpatriotic crap
on this weekend especially?</span></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">”<br />
<br />
Personally, I don’t think freedom is unpatriotic. Neither did my friend Michael Sauls. <br />
<br />
Wave the flag, visit veteran cemeteries, decorate the graves of heroes, hit the Memorial Day sales, cook up some hot dogs, stand for the National Anthem and recite the Pledge of Allegiance. If you want. Or not. That’s up to
you. But remember this – those who died for this nation died because they
believed in freedom. Practice it. Enjoy it. Respect it.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span>
<span style="line-height: 107%; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">“Freedom is freedom,” Michael said. “People
should do whatever they want if it doesn’t hurt anyone else. Nobody should be
forced to do what they don’t want to do, just because others think they should.
I believe in freedom. That’s why I’m a Marine.”</span><br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><i><br style="mso-special-character: line-break;" /></i></span>
</span><b></b><u></u><sub></sub><sup></sup><strike></strike>David Stallinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15153415881144120600noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4430759378404982127.post-49001203916644677192017-04-11T16:54:00.000-07:002017-04-13T11:40:35.507-07:00Stop Persecuting our Fellow Predators<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGR8-kh5-U8clgw1icUBjMu1cJvLuWPiGEYb4MNz7P9A-WHeVHrjZ-RZoQ4OrWiAyJBtpQxg9G-y9p5AOvH9nVaqiYtcGPYuKoqr1omndkudueOYNQaGqSChcMxLHs-CJlgBDWfBHkFIs/s1600/ccb.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGR8-kh5-U8clgw1icUBjMu1cJvLuWPiGEYb4MNz7P9A-WHeVHrjZ-RZoQ4OrWiAyJBtpQxg9G-y9p5AOvH9nVaqiYtcGPYuKoqr1omndkudueOYNQaGqSChcMxLHs-CJlgBDWfBHkFIs/s320/ccb.jpg" width="262" /></a></div>
<span style="margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Everything we
hunters love about elk – their speed, wariness, agility, intelligence – was
shaped and honed through thousands of years of coevolution with wolves, bears,
mountain lions and coyotes. Predators helped make elk what they are, and
predators help keep elk what they are.</span><span style="margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">
</span></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">In the wilds, everything is intimately connected; the health of the
whole depends on every part. When I merge into the wilds to hunt, I feel part
of the whole -- not merely a visitor to the wilds, but a participant; a
predator. </span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">I love wild
elk meat, but also see myself as a vegetarian of sorts -- living off the wild
grasses, sedges and forbs that grow near my home in western Montana. Most of these
plants are not palatable to humans, so I let elk convert them to protein for
me. Perhaps someday I will travel through the digestive system of a grizzly and
fertilize the vegetation that elk eat: Seems only fair considering all the elk
I've killed and eaten. We’re all connected. <br />
<br />
Unfortunately, many hunters don’t see it this way. They show disdain and
disrespect for our fellow predators. They see them as “competitors” killing and
eating what they arrogantly and selfishly think is “theirs” instead of trying
to understand the vital, ecological role they play in shaping and maintaining
what they claim to love. Nowhere is this more apparent than in the ongoing war
on wolves.</span><span style="margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
Idaho Fish and Game recently hired a paid bounty hunter to eliminate two wolf packs
in a wilderness. Idaho hunters have organized wolf-killing competitions and
co-ops to pay trappers to kill wolves. The state legislature and governor
declared wolves a "disaster emergency" and allocated $2 million to
killing wolves. More recently Idaho Fish and Game conducted secretive aerial
shootings of wolves from helicopters without public knowledge or input; they
spent $30,000 to kill 23 wolves. Idaho Fish and Game is doing this and more in
an ongoing effort to appease hunters to protect livestock and maintain
artificially high and unhealthy numbers of elk for hunters to shoot. </span></span><br />
<span style="margin: 0px;"><br /></span>
<span style="margin: 0px;">
</span><span style="line-height: 115%; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Elk populations are increasing in most
of the West. State wildlife departments are expanding elk hunting to reduce elk
populations while simultaneously killing wolves under the guise of protecting
and boosting elk numbers. Where elk populations do appear on the decline there
are plenty of factors to consider in addition to wolves: Changes in habitat; a
natural reduction in numbers where, prior to the return of wolves,</span><span style="margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: inherit;">populations were artificially high; lack of
mature bulls and low bull-to-cow ratios in herds (often resulting from early
season hunting and too much hunting pressure on bull elk) which influences the
timing of the rut and breeding behavior, the timing of spring calving
influencing increased vulnerability of elk calves to predation; influence of
other predators including mountain lions, black bears and grizzlies;
unanticipated impacts of various hunting regulations and hunting pressure, and
changes in behavior and habitat use by elk in the presence of wolves.</span></span><br />
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 13px;">
<br />
<span style="line-height: 115%; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Where I hunt, the growing presence of
wolves has changed the behavior and habits of elk. Elk bunch up more for
safety, and move around more to evade and avoid wolves. They are a lot more
wary. I have adapted and adjusted to these changes and have no problem finding
elk. This is part of the beauty and value of hunting within wilderness -- to
adjust, adapt and be part of the landscape; to be, as my friend David Petersen
put it, part of the "bedrock workings of nature." We render the wilds a diminished abstract when we alter it to suit our
own needs and desires and, in the process, make it less healthy and whole.
There are those who espouse the virtues of backcountry hunting and yet seem
apathetic or supportive towards the destruction of backcountry integrity. Those
who understand the wilds know how critically important predators are to the
health of the land. To remain silent about the nonscientific, politically-based
killing of wolves in the wildest of places is to be complacent towards the
degradation of what we claim to cherish.<br />
<br />
One of the cornerstones of our North American Model of Wildlife Conservation is
that wildlife be managed based on good science. That good science shows the
return of wolves to much of the western United States has resulted in
significant, long-term benefits to wildlife and the habitat that sustains them
-- including the species we love to hunt.</span></span><br />
<br />
<span lang="EN" style="margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Predators are rarely managed based on science or for the
benefit of predators and healthy ecosystems. They’re rarely managed in
accordance of what most Americans accept. Hunters and anglers pay the bills
through licenses and excise taxes on hunting and fishing gear and (along with
governor-appointed commissioners) have lopsided power and influence over how wildlife
is managed. Thus, wildlife management often leans more towards animal husbandry
– producing more to catch and shoot sometimes to the detriment of other
wildlife. Predators get a bad deal.</span></span><span style="margin: 0px;"><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
A recent report about the flaws of the North American Model summed it up this
way: </span><span style="margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">"The scientists also express
concern that the interests of recreational hunters sometimes conflict with
conservation principles. For example, they say, wildlife management conducted
in the interest of hunters can lead to an overabundance of animals that people
like to hunt, such as deer, and the extermination of predators that also
provide a vital balance to the ecosystem."</span></span></span><span style="margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"> </span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="line-height: 115%; margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">More than half a century ago Leopold wrote: </span><span style="margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">"I personally believed, at least in 1914 when predator control
began, that there could not be too much horned game, and that the extirpation
of predators was a reasonable price to pay for better big game hunting. Some of
us have learned since the tragic error of such a view, and acknowledged our
mistake." </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
We still haven't caught up to Leopold.</span>
</span><b></b><i></i><u></u><sub></sub><sup></sup><strike></strike></div>
David Stallinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15153415881144120600noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4430759378404982127.post-17040940419683663492017-03-31T09:41:00.001-07:002017-03-31T09:49:11.081-07:00Grizzlies: A Renewable Resource?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKdscjP2N0QBgQxZ1vLrxtGgpvxL6i8-OQdk0mBRnVGWHEH8aJQ5R-wzy1y8pyd3WNQbQGwfkN9nH6SX2mN3zG4a65X4mX1_oJnQ3AcRIxwD-PE-4hNF6SLhd0MXLPPb-jIme2Myf20GY/s1600/RENEWABLE+.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="232" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKdscjP2N0QBgQxZ1vLrxtGgpvxL6i8-OQdk0mBRnVGWHEH8aJQ5R-wzy1y8pyd3WNQbQGwfkN9nH6SX2mN3zG4a65X4mX1_oJnQ3AcRIxwD-PE-4hNF6SLhd0MXLPPb-jIme2Myf20GY/s320/RENEWABLE+.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
I just read an article in Petersen's Hunting called "Should We Hunt Grizzly Bears?" by David Hart. He quotes Mac Minard, Executive Director of the Montana Outfitter and Guide Association: <i>"They should be hunted because they are a renewable resource."</i> </div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="text_exposed_root text_exposed">
A <i>"renewable resource"?</i> <br />
<br />
Grizzly bears? Rugs? Claws? <br />
<br />
A commodity? <br />
<br /></div>
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<i>"We abuse land because we regard it as a commodity belonging to us. When we see land as a community to which we belong, we may begin to use it with love and res</i><span class="text_exposed_show"><i>pect."</i> -- Aldo Leopold</span></div>
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<br />
Grizzly bears . . . a <i>"renewable resource"?</i><br />
<br />
There's no love and respect in that.</div>
<b></b><i></i><u></u><sub></sub><sup></sup><strike></strike><br />
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David Stallinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15153415881144120600noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4430759378404982127.post-9690894776613525572017-03-30T08:31:00.000-07:002017-03-30T14:21:40.194-07:00We Don't Need to Hunt Grizzlies (Nor Should We)<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0333H1k8KraTNpLBEAuPl0hHISyJDbpPKkRZhjdkc9SqbB50xwGhIi7BzZY73XKaPv7cjzJyh4gYnwVZNgUYbQ8T98jLXTAPI9EapYpy5gdhIDWwzGVugDbIxq_mu0N4vSjv6YtjZ_z0/s1600/5620740_orig.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0333H1k8KraTNpLBEAuPl0hHISyJDbpPKkRZhjdkc9SqbB50xwGhIi7BzZY73XKaPv7cjzJyh4gYnwVZNgUYbQ8T98jLXTAPI9EapYpy5gdhIDWwzGVugDbIxq_mu0N4vSjv6YtjZ_z0/s320/5620740_orig.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Photo from a hunting-guide service called the "Grizzinator." </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">"Nothing good will ever come from killing a grizzly
bear. Much good can come from respecting its right to continue to roam the
land.” – Phil Timpany </i><br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
</div>
<span lang="EN" style="color: #1d2129; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0px;">Many
hunters and wildlife professionals say we need to hunt grizzlies to “manage” them,
and that grizzly hunting-tag revenue is needed to pay for the management. I
don’t buy it.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span></span><br />
<span lang="EN" style="color: #1d2129; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0px;"><br /></span>
<span lang="EN" style="color: #1d2129; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0px;">We should manage bears like bears, not deer and elk. Deer and elk evolved as
prey; they produce high numbers of fawns and calves because they feed a lot of
animals above them on the food chain, including many of us humans who hunt.
Grizzlies evolved as predators; they don’t produce a lot of cubs. Their
populations are tenuously self-regulating (something we should learn from them).
We should manage them accordingly. </span><br />
<span lang="EN" style="color: #1d2129; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0px;"><br /></span>
<span lang="EN" style="color: #1d2129; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0px;">We should manage grizzlies in a manner best for the bears; we should manage them
based on science, ethics and social desires; we should manage them to allow for
the space they need and deserve; we should manage them by improving people's knowledge
of grizzlies and how to best prevent conflicts; we should manage them by allowing
them the benefit of the doubt and erring on the side of caution; we should manage
them by giving "troubled" bears every chance we can, and we should
manage them by occasionally (as a last resort), killing certain individual bears
if they become a socially unacceptable danger. </span><br />
<br />
<span lang="EN" style="color: #1d2129; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0px;">Who will pay for this?
The American people should, all of us, because a huge majority of Americans
want, support and appreciate that we still have wild grizzlies and the wild
places to sustain them. Most Americans are fascinated with grizzlies, a
fascination that has existed since humans drew pictures of them on rocks. Grizzlies
are different. Myth, fear, awe, reality, science . . . all of it and more always
has and always will influence the powerful mystique and perception of grizzlies.
</span><br />
<span lang="EN" style="color: #1d2129; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0px;"><br /></span>
<span lang="EN" style="color: #1d2129; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0px;">For a long time we killed them. We killed them to near extinction. (Some subspecies
are extinct, existing now only in our imaginations or places like the
California flag.) I assume most Americans agreed with such a policy, until
leaders like Theodore Roosevelt came along. We’ve winnowed them down to a tiny
fraction of the once-immense territory they historically roamed. I suspect all people
with empathy and compassion in their hearts are saddened by this. They should be. I
am. </span><br />
<span lang="EN" style="color: #1d2129; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0px;"><br /></span>
<span lang="EN" style="color: #1d2129; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0px;">Most Americans respect grizzlies. Most Americans will not accept or tolerate
the killing of grizzlies for trophies, amusement and ego. Most Americans feel
disgusted to see hunters proudly standing over dead bodies of a once-powerful
living presence they killed for no legitimate, no acceptable justification. I’m
one of those Americans, and I’m a hunter. </span><br />
<span lang="EN" style="color: #1d2129; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0px;"><br /></span>
<span lang="EN" style="color: #1d2129; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0px;">When I kill an elk or deer, I feel grateful, humbled and saddened but happy to
be part of the wilds -- to kill my own meat in a respectful, ethical, sustainable
way. Nonhunters I know understand and support that. They accept hunters killing
deer and elk to fill freezers; they don’t accept hunters killing grizzlies to
fill egos.</span><br />
<span lang="EN" style="color: #1d2129; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0px;"><br /></span>
<span lang="EN" style="color: #1d2129; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0px;">We should not manage grizzlies to boost numbers of prey species so we have more
to kill. (I’ve heard fellow hunters say that we need to kill elk and deer to
keep populations in check, but we need to kill predators to boost the number of
animals we need to kill to keep their numbers down.) We should not kill
grizzlies to raise money to protect them.</span><br />
<span lang="EN" style="color: #1d2129; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0px;"><br /></span>
<span lang="EN" style="color: #1d2129; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0px;">That is not wildlife management based on good, sound science or social acceptability.</span><br />
<span lang="EN" style="color: #1d2129; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0px;"><br /></span>
<span lang="EN" style="color: #1d2129; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0px;">Predators are rarely managed based on sound science or for the benefit of
predators and healthy, functioning ecosystems. They’re rarely managed in
accordance of what a majority of Americans accept. Hunters and anglers pay the
bills through licenses and excise taxes on hunting and fishing gear and (along
with governor-appointed commissioners) have lopsided power and
influence over how wildlife is managed. As a result, wildlife management often leans more
towards animal husbandry – producing more to catch and shoot sometimes to the
detriment of other wildlife. Predators usually get a bad deal.</span><br />
<span lang="EN" style="color: #1d2129; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0px;"><br /></span>
<span lang="EN" style="color: #1d2129; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0px;">We’re stuck in a wildlife-management paradigm that attempts to justify indefensible death; it’s time for change. </span><br />
<span lang="EN" style="color: #1d2129; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0px;"><br /></span>
<span lang="EN" style="color: #1d2129; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0px;">All Americans should help pay for and influence how wildlife is managed. We
don’t need to sell grizzly-tags to fund the management of grizzlies. Let’s get
an excise tax on all outdoor gear – not just hunting and fishing equipment. Let’s
create a license for nonhunters who want to buy one. Let’s create a grizzly
stamp to sell and raise money much like we do with duck stamps. Let’s try
something different. Let’s take some power and influence from those who wrongly
insist we need to hunt grizzlies.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span></span><br />
<span lang="EN" style="color: #1d2129; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0px;"><br /></span>
<span lang="EN" style="color: #1d2129; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0px;">Grizzlies face enough uncertainty with impacts from human encroachment, habitat
loss and degradation, and climate change. Warmer temperatures, less snow,
earlier snowmelt and more drought has already caused a decline in white-bark
pine nuts, berries and other bear food. To err on the side of caution we should
not even be considering delisting grizzlies from federal endangered species
status and turning management over states eager to kill them. Not yet. But if
we do, we don’t need to hunt them.</span><br />
<span lang="EN" style="color: #1d2129; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0px;"><br /></span>
<span lang="EN" style="color: #1d2129; font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0px;">There is no biologically or social justification to hunt grizzlies. We should
manage them with the respect and reverence they deserve.<span style="margin: 0px;"> </span></span><br />
<b></b><i></i><u></u><sub></sub><sup></sup><strike></strike>David Stallinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15153415881144120600noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4430759378404982127.post-18105643552923427622017-03-27T13:08:00.002-07:002020-01-25T08:32:22.889-08:00Ballot Box Biology? <br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiulFdG12WvD8q2VaSM7zchK4x_ddnKHMXOwF3RROKNIu5hZ1iwheTQNdVZAZwej-c9XhkMbE6uIClPDUPy66yULV6tdNoZdQOMSqfXRQvEv_UjxyqCAhCAfK6WPaBRXt2i8yRWas9YsWc/s1600/untitled.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="242" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiulFdG12WvD8q2VaSM7zchK4x_ddnKHMXOwF3RROKNIu5hZ1iwheTQNdVZAZwej-c9XhkMbE6uIClPDUPy66yULV6tdNoZdQOMSqfXRQvEv_UjxyqCAhCAfK6WPaBRXt2i8yRWas9YsWc/s320/untitled.png" width="320" /></a></div>
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 11px;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri";">Last year, <a href="https://www.footloosemontana.org/">Montanans for Trap-Free Public Lands </a>launched a noble, but unfortunately failed, ballot
initiative called I-177 that would have banned trapping on public lands.</span><span style="margin: 0px;"><span style="font-family: "calibri";"> </span></span><span style="font-family: "calibri";">Trappers responded with the usual slew of lies that many Montanans always seem to swallow, claiming that the initiative was backed by
“out-of-state animal rights extremists” who “are uninformed about wildlife and
are trying to destroy our way of life.” And the old slippery slope fallacy: "Once they stop trapping, they will come after hunting, and fishing, and ranching, and logging and Tiddlywinks!" Many of my fellow hunters came to
the defense of trappers, repeating the same tiresome, easily-refuted lies. <br />
<br />
Such is the simple-minded, ignorant responses I often see from fellow hunters,
particularly in regards to predators. It’s all black and white to them; you’re
either “one of us, or one of them.” There is little, if any room for civil,
rational, reasonable discussion and debate; if you don’t agree, they attack
with Trump-like, childish fervor. <br />
<br />
A lot of hunters and hunting organizations also dusted off the old “ballot
box biology” defense – that such decisions should be made by wildlife
professionals based on good, sound science, not by citizens based on emotions.
We hunters love to claim wildlife management is based on good, sound science.
One of the very tenants of our North American Model of Wildlife Conservation
(which is tossed around nowadays and interpreted by many hunters who don't actually
understand it like the Bundy crowd talks about and interprets the
Constitution) is that wildlife management be based on good, sound science. It
should be, but it’s often not. <br />
<br />
In Idaho, the fish and game department conducts aerial shooting of wolves and
sends bounty hunters into wilderness areas to eliminate wolf packs despite the good,
sound science and what we know about wolf behavior, ecology and biology. </span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 11px;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri";">That’s not management based on good, sound science. <br />
<br />
Throughout the West, we continue to carry out a war on coyotes and wolves
despite the overwhelming scientific evidence that such actions disrupt the
social and breeding behavior of these animals and can, ironically, result in
even more coyotes and wolves. (</span><a href="http://thoughtsfromthewildside.blogspot.com/2014/03/killing-wolves-hunter-led-war-against.html"><span style="color: #0563c1; font-family: "calibri";">See
"Killing Wolves: A Hunter-Led War on Science and Wildife"</span></a><span style="font-family: "calibri";">)<br />
<br />
That’s not management based on good, sound science. <br />
<br />
I remember when Colorado proposed a ban on the baiting and killing of bears,
based on scientific evidence that the baiting of bears was having negative
impacts on bears by habituating them to human handouts and changing their
natural habits and habitat use. The state’s chief bear biologist at the time,
Tom Beck, penned a piece in support of the baiting ban for Outdoor Life. Before
it was published (and before anyone even read it) hunters and hunting
organizations rallied against Outdoor Life and successfully prevented the
publication of the piece. Two editors left their jobs over the incidence. (See </span><a href="http://www.hcn.org/issues/100/3088"><span style="color: #0563c1; font-family: "calibri";">"Hunters Close Ranks and
Minds"</span></a><span style="font-family: "calibri";"> by Ted Williams.) </span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 11px;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri";">That’s not management based on good, sound science. <br />
<br />
In the Clearwater region of Idaho several years ago, black bears were killing
an unusually high number of elk calves. Research showed that the
calves had become more susceptible to predation because a lack of mature bulls
in the herd, from hunting, had changed elk breeding behavior and timing, causing
calves to be born late, missing the flush spring forage, and not gaining enough
strength quickly enough to evade predators. Researchers recommended changes in
hunting regulations and motorized access to reduce bull elk vulnerability,
increase habitat security and boost the number of mature bulls in the
herd. Idaho citizens didn’t buy it. They demanded more bears be shot and
killed. Idaho Fish and Game appeased the hunters. <br />
<br />
That’s not management based on good, sound science. <br />
<br />
Wildlife management decisions are often and largely based on public needs and
desires, and that should be part of it. But sometimes those needs and desires
go against good, sound science. Trappers, hunters and the agricultural industry
have a lot of power over our legislature and wildlife management. Other
citizens often, and justifiably, feel left out of the decision-making, and they
are often ridiculed and attacked by ignorant, arrogant hunters and trappers.
Many hunters and hunting organizations tend to either avoid these controversial
issues or take the side of hunters to appease their base (or, as Aldo Leopold
put it, to satisfy the “lowest common denominator.”) Our system, with all
its tremendous achievements, has some flaws, and those flaws can lead us closer
to animal husbandry than good, sound, science-based wildlife management. <br />
<br />
A recent report about the </span><a href="http://www.newswise.com/articles/scientists-call-n-american-wildlife-conservation-flawed"><span style="color: #0563c1; font-family: "calibri";">flaws
of the North American Model</span></a><span style="font-family: "calibri";"> summed it up this way: </span><i><span style="font-family: "calibri";">"The scientists
also express concern that the interests of recreational hunters sometimes
conflict with conservation principles. For example, they say, wildlife
management conducted in the interest of hunters can lead to an overabundance of
animals that people like to hunt, such as deer, and the extermination of
predators that also provide a vital balance to the ecosystem."</span></i><br />
<span style="font-family: "calibri";"><br />
But hunters tend to circle the wagons and defend the indefensible out of
paranoia and fear of anti-hunters and the slippery slope (“but if we let them
stop bear-baiting, or game farms, or drones, or trapping, they will surely try
to stop hunting, take our guns, and destroy America and the
universe!”) But as my friend Jim Posewitz likes to say, “circling the
wagons is not a good defense when there are far too many people already outside
that circle.” <br />
<br />
And some of those people outside the circle are good, knowledgeable, informed
people who care about our wildlife and wild places. Some of them are fellow
hunters. We alienate them by dismissing their concerns and attacking and
insulting them. We turn people against us when we circle the wagons and
defend the indefensible and insult intelligent people who disagree -- informed
people who sometimes have more good, sound science on their side than we do. <br />
<br />
I recently heard a guy who makes hunting videos -- and hunts for amusement,
entertainment and profit -- criticize the “animal rights extremists” who
file lawsuits to protect wolves, claiming such lawsuits went against “sound,
scientific management” and our “North American Model of Wildlife
Conservation.” And yet those citizens – many of them informed by good,
sound science -- filed those lawsuits in response to states doing things such
as gunning down wolves from helicopters and sending in bounty hunters to eliminate
packs in wilderness areas. </span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 11px;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri";">That’s not management based on good, sound science. </span></div>
<br />
<div style="margin: 0px 0px 11px;">
<span style="font-family: "calibri";">The executive director of a large, influential hunting
organization has repeatedly called wolves “the worst ecological disaster since
the decimation of bison,” and claims wolves and grizzly bears are
“annihilating” our elk herds. (See, </span><a href="http://www.hcn.org/wotr/a-once-proud-conservation-group-has-lost-its-way"><span style="color: #0563c1; font-family: "calibri";">"A
Once Proud Conservation Organization Has Lost Its Way"</span></a><span style="font-family: "calibri";">)<br />
<br />
That’s not promoting or supporting management based on good, sound science. <br />
<br />
Our behavior and actions can bring about lawsuits and ballot initiatives. Some
of these ballot initiatives are, indeed, “ballot box biology” in the sense that
they defend and demand good, sound science when state wildlife agencies won’t. <br />
<br />
We’re our own worst enemies. We bring these ballot initiatives on ourselves. If
we don't change our ways, we best get used to it. <br />
<br />
The famed ecologist Aldo Leopold, widely considered the "father of wildlife management,"
changed his ways after killing a wolf when he was hired to hunt and trap mountain lions, bears and wolves for the Forest Service early in his career. In an essay called "Thinking Like A Mountain" he wrote:<br /><br /><i>“We reached the old wolf in time to watch a fierce green fire dying in her eyes. I realized then, and have known ever since, that there was something new to me in those eyes – something known only to her and to the mountain. I was young then, and full of trigger-itch; I thought that because fewer wolves meant more deer, that no wolves would mean hunters’ paradise. But after seeing the green fire die, I sensed that neither the wolf nor the mountain agreed with such a view.”</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "calibri";"><i></i></span><span style="font-family: "calibri";"><br />From his experiences grew what he called a "land ethic," that acknowledges the importance of all living things in an ecosystem. In his 1949 classic, "A Sand County Almanac," he defined it as such: <i>“A thing is right when it tends to preserve the integrity, stability, and beauty of the biotic community. It is wrong when it tends otherwise.”</i></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "calibri";"><i></i><br />
<i></i></span><span style="font-family: "calibri";">Nearly 68 years later we still haven't caught up. </span></div>
David Stallinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15153415881144120600noreply@blogger.com18tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4430759378404982127.post-67209111273102045592017-01-31T13:38:00.002-08:002017-03-28T12:59:14.534-07:00Keep Public Lands in Public Hands!<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiO6J8MU4AbF9Ln82tuefhu99S_9OEFmu7UW0DDd10JAjiHNssxoWcYSyB_jzQbMes3eeyiq-8jB1T_YQaVcK5WPqHt4WwZpXxZKlbKoQVzNp0OK70dtKGYLcELN0ZxN7ffSTzhQmzfz00/s1600/IMG_0111.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="219" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiO6J8MU4AbF9Ln82tuefhu99S_9OEFmu7UW0DDd10JAjiHNssxoWcYSyB_jzQbMes3eeyiq-8jB1T_YQaVcK5WPqHt4WwZpXxZKlbKoQVzNp0OK70dtKGYLcELN0ZxN7ffSTzhQmzfz00/s320/IMG_0111.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span lang="EN" style="color: #1d2129; font-family: "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0px;">Like people everywhere, we
Montanans don’t always agree. We often engage in spirited debates and
disagreements about how our wildlife and wild places should or shouldn’t be
managed. But one thing that unites most all of us: Our love for public lands. </span></div>
<br />
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<span lang="EN" style="color: #1d2129; font-family: "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0px;">Setting aside these lands
is one of the greatest things our nation ever did. It's a unique American
heritage that, particularly here in Montana, shapes and enhances our lives. For
many of us, it defines who we are. What would life be like without the freedom
to hunt, fish and roam our public wild lands?<br />
<br />
If some folks get their way, we might find out. <br />
<br />
There is a bill under consideration in Congress that would lead to the sale of our
public lands throughout the West, including Montana. Several Montana state
legislators support and promote efforts to sell or transfer our public lands.
There are powerful, influential organizations, such as the American Legislative
Exchange Council and the American Lands Council, pushing for the sale or
transfer of our public lands. <br />
<br />
We won’t let them have it. <br />
<br />
</span><br />
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<span lang="EN" style="color: #1d2129; font-family: "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0px;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSG5Nu3FYoIDPMQutuTSqkb2yYcJ0t7Wh1gVjD5KfJLUFMT14wyZev2cbNAcKWdZsTd4Ip84HIuUYC1tMhQ9B9lGKyZTSSpM9OrZfcW1seoKdhYeTUmsPdP1vF9VlLJkjIz-9UFkcZ-hg/s1600/IMG_0167.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="198" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSG5Nu3FYoIDPMQutuTSqkb2yYcJ0t7Wh1gVjD5KfJLUFMT14wyZev2cbNAcKWdZsTd4Ip84HIuUYC1tMhQ9B9lGKyZTSSpM9OrZfcW1seoKdhYeTUmsPdP1vF9VlLJkjIz-9UFkcZ-hg/s320/IMG_0167.JPG" width="320" /></a></span></div>
<span lang="EN" style="color: #1d2129; font-family: "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0px;">We Montanans get pretty riled up about proposals to sell or transfer our public
lands. Yesterday, January 30, more than 1,000 of us, from all walks of life --
Democrats, Republicans, hunters, anglers, environmentalists, bird watchers,
hikers, photographers, loggers, ranchers, Native Americans, and others, from
all over Montana -- converged on the Capitol in Helena to convey a loud, clear,
unified message: KEEP OUR PUBLIC LANDS IN PUBLIC HANDS!<br />
<br />
As Governor Steve Bullock succinctly put it at yesterday’s rally in the
Capitol: “Every one of us owns these public lands, and the beauty is we don’t
need permission to go on them, do we? Efforts to sell or transfer public lands have
no place in this building and no place in Montana.”<br />
<br />
These are our lands; we plan to keep them. <br />
<br />
Thanks to the groups who organized and sponsored this great rally: </span><a href="https://www.facebook.com/wildmontana/"><span lang="EN" style="font-family: "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0px;"><span style="color: #0563c1;">Montana Wilderness Association</span></span></a><span lang="EN" style="color: #1d2129; font-family: "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0px;">, </span><a href="https://www.facebook.com/mtvoters/"><span lang="EN" style="font-family: "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0px;"><span style="color: #0563c1;">Montana Conservation Voters</span></span></a><span lang="EN" style="color: #1d2129; font-family: "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0px;">, </span><a href="https://www.facebook.com/MontanaAudubon/"><span lang="EN" style="font-family: "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0px;"><span style="color: #0563c1;">Montana Audubon</span></span></a><span lang="EN" style="color: #1d2129; font-family: "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0px;">, and </span><a href="https://www.facebook.com/backcountryhabitat/"><span lang="EN" style="font-family: "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0px;"><span style="color: #0563c1;">Backcountry Hunters & Anglers</span></span></a><span lang="EN" style="color: #1d2129; font-family: "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0px;"> -- and thank you to everyone who showed up.
</span></div>
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<span lang="EN" style="color: #1d2129; font-family: "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0px;">If you'd like to show your support for Montana's public lands, please sign this
petition: </span><a href="http://l.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fmtgreatoutdoors.org%2F&h=ATNrE9N5tOEtrX7kjKknKQl3YMtVwH42AVnbDizhFFjHEvkBC7I01_I9udjMPYNRSTHvWXZZZP58ZqjCKpHTPZS4lXLOByuOIJ12jEwmN1BNpd88djllL0dbS7S8F4sX_0U6&enc=AZMYGhEP6RC1SrYmu9W7FWgaB5sYwNvzghmTMQ1eVgE18vb-gOY5op5DSB06muGhRHQRwewcGeXjFGUpz5hmQTBPzz8W6iGaZUJU-TelFHtpSbxYVd2mBdaGn1RtQ_GGYtED3UfTBrzXjCnG7iHkLwPfDj-xFAknw8a3tJseXSmE7tcIh-VXsaqXW3G31cAaACb2_oN0p-XX-4-zyZJ5W5-U&s=1" target="_blank"><span lang="EN" style="font-family: "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: 12pt; margin: 0px;"><span style="color: #0563c1;">mtgreatoutdoors.org</span></span></a><br />
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</span><b></b><i></i><u></u><sub></sub><sup></sup><strike></strike>David Stallinghttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15153415881144120600noreply@blogger.com0